Southwest Airlines workers might have to accept pay cuts
The airline could also lay off a large number of employees after the end of furlough.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) is calling on union workers to accept wage cuts for the first time to avoid vacation and layoffs until the end of next year. CEO Gary Kelly, who has had a cut salary since March, said Monday that he would be waiving his salary until the end of next year. That comes with the passing of an important deadline: the airlines were not allowed to take vacation or layoffs until October 1 because they received $ 25 billion in aid that year. But the demand is still significantly lower than last year. Southwest has never put workers on leave or laid off, but warns that some steps would be inevitable without further federal aid (which doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon). "We just can't afford to wait any longer," says Kelly, perhaps alluding to rivals United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) who have more than 32,000 by the time the deadline expires Have made cuts.