Transport Worker’s Union President James Little offered this comment about Southwest Airlines’ incident at La Guardia Airport (we no longer desire to comment on air incidents as they happen but, rather, wait some time for things to settle).  Mr. Little said:

Brothers and Sisters,

The incident yesterday at LaGuardia Airport, involving Southwest Flight 345, is evidence of the lack of concern Southwest has demonstrated in regards to the safety of its passengers and our members as they continue to press forward in the name of cost savings.

Thankfully, no lives were lost due to our members, the trained flight attendants, and pilots on board. As Southwest continues to outsource flight maintenance to reduce cost, the safety risks are likely to increase. This will be known as the first of more incidents to follow if Southwest is not held accountable.

In response to this tragedy, I have met with our Health and Safety Director, Ed Watt, and our CARE team is fully mobilized and ready in New York to assist with any efforts in regards to the incident.

In solidarity,
James C. Little
International President

That didn’t sit too well with Southwest Airlines flight attendants who are represented by the TWU.  They responded politely but in the union world, this is the equivalent of a “shut up”.  TWU Local 556 responded with:

Due to the ongoing investigation, there should not be speculation made concerning the cause or nature of this unfortunate incident, and Local 556 does not endorse statements made by our International President Jim Little. We are very proud of the Flight Attendants aboard the flight and we believe our Company’s Mechanics work hard each day to keep our Passengers and Crew Members safe.

Mr. Little’s comments disappeared later.

I have a couple of observations:  Southwest is no different from any other airline and its safety record is, quite likely, the best there based on passengers flown daily.  The law of numbers says they will have incidents from time to time and that has happened.  The measure of the airline is how well the flight crews did during those incidents (so far they have always done very well) and how well they have taken care of their passengers (better than any other airline.)

Second, unions don’t need to grab every opportunity to play the PR game.  When it comes to crashes, incidents, etc, it isn’t necessary to weigh in with a political opinion.  People are materially and psychologically affected by these things and voicing an opinion to further the political goals of your union local at the moment of an incident is just bad form.

These acts hurt unions far more than most anything else because they reflect severely on the union in the public eye.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax