Southwest Airlines Grievance Essay

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1. The grievance process—which typically is comprised of labor agreements negotiated by organized labor—has been severely criticized by many analysts for providing unwarranted protection for workers, and for making many types of workers virtually incapable of being fired. From your research, what are 2 real examples of grievances filed within a union environment? 1. At a Northern New Mexico College, two instructors filed complaints alleging that their employer declined to renew their contracts because of their union involvement (Jones, 2017). Their complaints were initially dismissed by the employer due to technicalities. The employees registered a level three complaint when they were supposed to file a level two grievance. When they corrected …show more content…

The second example involves Southwest Airlines (Shine, 2017). For many years, they outsourced the overnight cleaning of their planes to outside contractors. Recently, unionized employees at the airline took issue with the outsourcing practice, claiming that it violates the union’s contract with Southwest. They filed a grievance which led to failed arbitration since the the union failed to file within 10 days of the alleged contract violation. A subsequent revisal of the union’s contract with Southwest triggered a fresh grievance claim. The arbitrator sided with the union at this point and agreed with their assertion that the airline’s outsourcing actions stood in violation of they contract with the union. Southwest initiated a federal lawsuit that is still in it early …show more content…

My first suggestion for employers and their workers is to institute an open door policy for informal conflict resolution, a proven method for minimizing the likelihood of escalating conflict (Newman, 2013). If an employee can stroll into their supervisor’s office at any time with a concern, the issue can hopefully be addressed before things progress to a stage where formal steps become necessary. My second suggestion is inspired by Lewin’s (2014) comments on the criticality of employees having a voice within their organization. While open door policies are one way to resolve issues before they become a grievance, I advocate for regularly scheduled (perhaps quarterly) meetings where workers can voice concerns or challenges amongst each other. This type of forum, set up by the union or human resource department, allows issues to be presented to a group for a synergistic solution before they reach the level where a grievance is

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