Southwest, Mechanics Union Reach Tentative Deal In Labor Dispute

The transition in SWA from the Herb inspired days to the crandall clone GK fiefdom has been entertainin to watch from the perspective of this old hardcore GA guy. Back then the pilot hiring committee consisted of ex freight dogs, part 135ers and a couple of other guys that came in the door early with a fresh 737 type. Couldn't get in the door without one. H R was Herb and Colleen. The airline in Herbs day was not without some labor strife, but a couple of meetings with the players in the back room at Bugattis and corraling the lawyers usually resolved the issues and "Herbs family" went back to smilin! This group has endured a 6 year battle with a GK led management group that now considers everyone else "GKs employees". Congrats. on the new contract. On another note, Attended a BD get together for a GA elder statesman airplane driver a couple of weeks ago that was a pretty diverse group, but at least half a dozen were either retired or very senior SWA captains and to a man they were either happy to be done with the battle or countin the days to retirement. We called it life in the past lane. It was fun.

Cheers!