American and United, have already issued notices and laid off tens of thousands of workers.
Southwest has been in negotiations about pay cuts and other cost savings with its unions since October to offset what it has said are more than $1 billion in “overstaffing costs” due to the depressed travel demand from the pandemic.
“Our absolute goal is to preserve every job at Southwest Airlines; however, due to a lack of meaningful progress in negotiations, we had to proceed with issuing notifications to additional employees who are valued members of the Southwest family,” Russell McCrady, vice president of labor relations said in a statement. “We are willing to continue negotiations quickly to preserve jobs if we can achieve the support that allows Southwest to combat the ongoing economic challenges created by the decline in demand for air travel.”
The airline sent notices to 6,828 of its approximately 58,000 employees, or more than 10 percent.
The breakdown of potential layoffs by major work groups:
The airline said the layoffs will take place on March 15 or April 1 depending on the employee group unless negotiations with unions are successful or the government offers another round of federal aid to airlines. The airline calls them furloughs instead of layoffs because union employees have recall rights if and when when business improves but the affected workers are indeed out of work until then.