Strikes and pay raises: Airline pilot contract negotiations continue
Southwest pilots will hold a strike vote
Many of the major U.S. airlines are going through contract negotiations with their pilots, and Delta’s union recently announced a preliminary deal that could set the bar for the rest of those talks, promising major pay raises in the coming years.
Meanwhile, Southwest pilots are gearing up to approve a strike this spring (more on why you don’t need to panic about that below).
Discussions between management and the unions continue at American Airlines and United Airlines.
The wheeling and dealing is unlikely to have a major impact on travelers, especially as airlines report record profits, but pilot pay increases could drive up costs for carriers, which could result in higher ticket prices in the long term.
It should be fine: Southwest pilots prepare for strike vote
Southwest Airlines pilots are set to hold a vote to authorize a strike this spring. The polls will open to union members on May 1 and be counted at the end of that month.
“I think it is best to consider what our customers have been through over the past several years and the past several weeks. It was the lack of discussion or commitment by our leadership team to rectify these issues for our passengers and our pilots that drove us to make the decision to carry forward on this path afforded to us by the Railway Labor Act,” Southwest Airlines Pilots Association president, Casey Murray said in a statement. “It is not a decision we have taken lightly, but given the trajectory of our current leadership group, we have little faith in the stability and future of our airline.”
Keep in mind: Even a resounding vote to authorize a strike does not automatically mean a strike will actually take place. The National Labor Relations Board requires a 30-day cooling-off period following a vote, and pilots and management have historically been hesitant to pursue such drastic actions, even with approval.
Delta pilots held a similar vote in October with a large majority voting in favor of authorizing the action, but they continued to fly as usual while contract negotiations proceeded.
Delta deal could mean big payday
Delta Air Lines’ pilot union reached a tentative deal with company management on a new contract that would give its pilots pay raises of more than 30% over four years.
Union representatives are preparing to present full details of the agreement to the airline’s pilots in the coming weeks, and a vote to ratify will take place between Jan. 31 and March 1.
If they vote to approve the deal, Delta pilots will receive an 18% pay increase on the day the contract is signed, followed by a 5% increase one year later and two 4% raises in each subsequent year. The proposed contract also includes a one-time payment of 4% of 2020 and 2021 pay each, plus 14% of 2022 pay.
As negotiations continue at other airlines, these numbers could preview what their pilots might push for.
ALABAMA Moody: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is stepping in, at the request of state officials, to help extinguish an underground landfill fire that has been burning in the state for nearly two months, Gov. Kay Ivey announced.
ALASKA Juneau: The Alaska House elected Republican Rep. Cathy Tilton as speaker.
ARIZONA Tucson: Some 300 campers stranded at a park due to flooding from recent rain storms were headed back to dry land Wednesday.
ARKANSAS Barling: A body was found in an area where search-andrescue teams have been looking for a missing man, authorities report.
CALIFORNIA San Diego: A malfunction at a wastewater pumping station spilled 500,000 gallons of sewage into San Diego Bay, authorities said.
COLORADO Pueblo: Southern Airways Express LLC launched its first essential air service flights between Pueblo Memorial Airport and Denver this week.
CONNECTICUT New Haven: A woman who abandoned an 8-month-old girl in a dumpster after assaulting the child’s mother has been sentenced to three years of probation, according to court officials. Both the baby and her mother survived.
DELAWARE Dewey Beach: The attorney general’s office has determined that police were justified in using deadly force last year in the fatal shooting of an armed man.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: People are speaking out over misspellings and missing names on the $22 million Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War Veterans Memorial, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Daytona Beach Shores: Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded $100 million for beach erosion projects and other restoration efforts in 16 coastal counties damaged by Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole.
GEORGIA Blakely: The state’s university system is donating a closed campus to a local school board to use as a middle or high school.
HAWAII Kahoolawe: Five tons of debris were airlifted to Maui as part of an island cleanup project, HawaiiNewsNow reports.
IDAHO Boise: A lawmaker from Moscow introduced a bill that would remove the authority of public universities to regulate firearms on campus, the Idaho Statesman reports.
ILLINOIS Hillsboro: Several employees of a prison were treated at hospitals after they became sickened while responding to one or more inmates suffering severe discomfort, according to a prison spokesperson and a union representative.
INDIANA Indianapolis: A lawsuit challenging a state law that prohibits transgender students from competing in girls school sports was dropped just weeks before it was to be heard by a federal appeals court.
IOWA Des Moines: The Iowa National Guard’s top general is set to retire, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced.
KANSAS Topeka: A man on trial for threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner cross-examined the Republican in federal court, with the congressman rejecting the defendant’s suggestions that he was conveying a message from God.
KENTUCKY Frankfort:
Attorney General Daniel Cameron said an initiative launched by his office has the potential to become a “game changer” in fighting human trafficking. The initiative mobilizes communities and landlords to identify and shutter illicit massage businesses that might be enabling human trafficking.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: A small, historically Black university known for successfully moving its graduates into medical school says it’s a step closer to creating its own medical school with help from a major Louisiana health care system.
MAINE Bangor: A newspaper that was criticized for publishing an edited version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech has offered an apology.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The city’s new top prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges against a local police officer who fatally shot a fleeing teenage driver last year.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Democrat Andrea Campbell was sworn in as the first Black woman to serve as Massachusetts attorney general.
MICHIGAN Wayne County: Officials have lifted a COVID-19 quarantine they say forced them to confine youths to their rooms at the juvenile jail for up to 10 days, a move that upset some parents and advocates.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Attorneys for an adjunct art professor said she is suing the university that dismissed her after a Muslim student objected to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course, while the university admitted to a “misstep” and plans to hold public conversations about academic freedom.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The Mississippi Poison Control Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is experiencing a concerning increase in calls regarding children who have found and eaten marijuana-laced candies and chocolates at home, making them sick enough for a trip to the emergency room.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: Gov. Mike Parson called on state lawmakers to set aside nearly $860 million to widen and improve traffic flow on Interstate 70 in his annual State of the State address.
MONTANA Helena: Clinical testing of three juvenile grizzly bears euthanized by wildlife officials last fall has confirmed the bears were infected with bird flu.
NEBRASKA Kearney: State troopers arrested a 13-year-old driver after a chase that topped 100 mph along an interstate highway.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A yearlong inspection of child care centers across the state in 2022 uncovered a pattern of lax oversight and weak policies at five facilities, according to a report released this month.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Antrim: A mill complex that dates to the 1800s that made a popular line of apple parers has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
NEW JERSEY Livingston: A man accused of stealing a school bus was arrested, the police chief said.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Prosecutors say a failed GOP candidate accused of orchestrating a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of Democratic elected officials is a danger to the community and should be detained pending trial.
NORTH CAROLINA Winston-Salem: Annie Brown Kennedy, an attorney who was the first Black woman to serve in the North Carolina General Assembly, has died at age 98, a family member said.
NORTH DAKOTA Mandan: A woman is accused of assaulting a school bus driver when stopped at an intersection, the Bismarck Tribune reports.
OHIO Columbus: Medical marijuana advocates are once again urging Ohio to allow autistic people to use cannabis. The State Medical Board received multiple petitions to add autism spectrum disorder to the list of qualifying medical conditions for the program.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state’s current schedule of executing a death row inmate roughly every 30 days is placing too much of a burden on prison staff and should be slowed down, the state’s new attorney general wrote in a motion filed with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
OREGON Willamina: A student and a deputy were treated at a hospital after they likely were exposed to fentanyl at a school, authorities said.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Two decades after a teacher’s aide was suspended for wearing a cross necklace at school, lawmakers are looking to remove a provision in state law that bars educators from wearing religious garb while in the classroom.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: A man who had more than 200 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition at his home pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities about his drug use when he purchased the weapons.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: No woman is expected to serve on the state Supreme Court for the first time in 35 years. Lawmakers appear poised to replace Justice Kaye Hearn with Judge Gary Hill after the two other candidates dropped out.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: The South Dakota Unified Court System is requesting a taskforce be created to examine issues within the courtappointed attorneys system.
TENNESSEE Robertson County: The southbound lanes of Interstate 65 were shut down Thursday after two wrecks involving tractor trailers.
TEXAS Fort Worth: A man was sentenced to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 2018 fatal shooting of a police officer, prosecutors said.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Officials say lots of rain and snow this winter has helped the Great Salt Lake rise by a foot since reaching a historic low last year, FOX 13 reports.
VERMONT Chittenden County: Residents may hear Vermont Air National Guard members flying F-35s during evenings this week and next week. Airmen must practice flying during the day and night to complete federal training requirements and be prepared for all flying conditions.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Gov. Glenn Youngkin called for legislation to require student and parental notification about certain scholastic awards.
WASHINGTON Everett: A man accused of killing a police officer is asking a judge to move his trial out of county where the officer worked and was fatally shot last year.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The Republican-dominated House passed a proposal to reduce the personal income tax by 50 percent, rejecting a call by Democrats to drop the tax entirely for the lowest earners.
WISCONSIN Racine: Two police officers were shot and wounded with suspected birdshot pellets after a domestic disturbance call grew into a shootout with a suspect, police said.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced legislation that would put $10 million toward crosswalk and pedestrian bridge improvements, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports.
From USA TODAY Network and wire reports