Southwest Might Resort to Layoffs

Like swallowing a bitter pill, Southwest Airlines acknowledged on Friday it might have to do something it staunchly and proudly has never done in its 49-year history.

Lay off employees.

Southwest has sent notices of potential furloughs to 42 parts inventory workers, after talks with one union group stalled over pay cuts the airline says it must have from all employees to offset $1 billion in overstaffing costs, according to Reuters News Service.

“This is not the result we hoped to achieve,” Southwest Vice President of Labor Relations Russell McCrady said in an emailed statement to the news outlet.

The Teamsters Union did not immediately comment.

Unions represent about 83 percent of roughly 61,000 Southwest employees.

At this point, Southwest says the only things that would prevent the layoffs from taking place in January would be an agreement with the union or an extension of the CARES Act payroll support program that all airlines have been desperately hoping for.

Carriers across the country have been laying off employees after the restrictions on furloughs ran out on Oct. 1, a provision that was included in the first stimulus package in March.

In the meantime, in an effort to juice sales, Southwest has unblocked middle seats for bookings, added new routes and offered huge sales on flights.