Southwest Airlines is thriving but at the union that represents the Dallas carrier's more than 23,000 flight attendants, infighting is afoot. Some veteran Southwest flight attendants are publicly voicing their support for decertifying the current union, TWU Local 556, in favor of a newly imagined independent union that would be called the Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants Association. The ...

Southwest Airlines flight attendants picketing at the Dallas Love Field Airport in Dallas on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Southwest Airlines is thriving but at the union that represents the Dallas carrier's more than 23,000 flight attendants, infighting is afoot.

Some veteran Southwest flight attendants are publicly voicing their support for decertifying the current union, TWU Local 556, in favor of a newly imagined independent union that would be called the Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants Association.

The movement for a new union dates back to at least last year and has been spearheaded by Texas-based flight attendant Travis Rodriguez. He told The Dallas Morning News that he felt like members of Local 556 "were not being heard," adding that he felt like union leadership was not fighting hard enough for its members or being transparent about how dues are spent.

"For years, we've talked about what we wish our representation could look like, or you know what we wish was different, or you know members wish they'd had more control over," Rodriguez, a Southwest flight attendant since 2019, told The News.

"At some point I thought, OK, why are we still talking about it. Why don't we do something about it? Why can't we actually build something?"

Rodriguez laid out his frustrations regarding a lack of financial transparency of how union dues are spent, voting rules and a leadership he said isn't fighting hard enough for its members.

"This is about our representation, and whether TWU likes it or not ... this is our future," Rodriguez said.

Josh Rosenberg, a Southwest flight attendant and second vice president of Local 556, said "rumblings" of a decertification movement began nearly three years ago. "They kind of just make up wild accusations," Rosenberg said.

He said that shortly after the decertification began, Southwest flight attendants ratified an "industry-leading contract."

"There's nothing wrong with asking questions of your union but asking to form a new union is not a question that we're OK with," he said. "There's responsible ways and then irresponsible ways to go about handling frustration with your union."

'Minimal transparency'

Rodriguez's efforts to spread his movement to scores of Southwest flight attendants have earned him the support of some veteran employees.

Chris Schroeder, a Southwest flight attendant of more than 30 years, told The Dallas Morning News there have been a "multitude of things" regarding current union representation that have frustrated him. He pointed to union leaders receiving "increases to their own pay package, instead of representing the advancement of the membership's pay package."

There's very minimal transparency of their schedules, or the amount of money that they're spending of our membership's hard-earned dues payments."

Charlene Carter, a 30-year Southwest flight attendant, accused the union of spending too much money for political purposes and targeting members who hold more conservative beliefs. Carter has a complicated and turbulent history with Local 556. In 2022, a North Texas federal judge ordered Southwest Airlines to reinstate Carter, who said she was unfairly fired for expressing anti-abortion views.

Like Schroeder and Rodriguez, Carter said the union does not tell members about how dues money is spent. She also takes issue with the amount of money sent to the TWU International parent union. Carter said she is "fee-objector" flight attendant, which she explained means the international union must pay her back a percentage of her dues money that it doesn't use for political purposes.

"I just don't believe in this union," Carter said. "I don't like how they spend our money, and then even our local, I wished I didn't have to pay those dues because they honestly spend it on whatever they choose and not what the membership actually wants."

Rodriguez, Schroeder and Carter also are frustrated with what they said are repeated assessment fees required of union members on top of their dues payments. Local 556 leadership told The News that assessment fees are used for contract negotiations.

When asked about allegations that Local 556 has no financial transparency, first vice president Sam Wilkins said "emphatically, that's not true."

"As recent as August the 26th, we chaired a membership meeting where we have disclosed more to our members than any other administration when it comes to the inner workings of where our dues money is being spent," Wilkins said.

She felt a frustrating thing for members is that they want to tell the union how to spend dues money. Seventy percent of dues money remains in the hands of the local, while 30% is sent to the international union, according to Wilkins.

"The problem with that is, that is reserved for the executive board and ultimately the president because those are the functions of an executive board," she said. "Could you imagine if we were trying to pass a budget by membership vote?"

Local 556 regularly makes filings with the U.S. Department of Labor that specifies how much money the union allocates for things like representational activities and fees.

The tough road to decertification

Regardless of frustrations, members of Local 556 face a long road to oust its current union representation. Under the Railway Labor Act, a formal application would need to be filed with the National Mediation Board. Then, the petitioner would need to submit authorization cards that prove at least 50% of the flight attendants don't want to be represented by Local 556.

If enough decertification cards are collected and accepted as eligible voters, the NMB would hold an election to decide whether Southwest flight attendants would get rid of the union or keep their current representation. Similar decertification efforts by flight attendants have played out at airlines like Houston-based budget carrier Avelo.

Schroeder admitted that it's "going to be a challenge for sure" but added "it's the best chance that's ever been given."

"It's a very high threshold, particularly ... that you can't go and use company mailboxes for trying to get anybody signed up for this, you're going to be attacked by the current union for any willingness to even discuss the possibilities of another union."

But Wilkins argued that members benefit from having TWU international as a partner.

"Our members can always have confidence that this ship is going to sail along just fine, right?," she said. "Even if, if members, for one reason or another, whether it's bad information, whether it's rumors, whether it's just like a nagging itch they have that something is wrong, if they email the international enough times, the international is going to say, 'OK, we'll check it out.' That's a great safety net."

Ultimately, Rodriguez said that he wants members to "have a choice."

"I don't think having a choice is always a bad thing," he said. "So no, I don't think TWU doesn't know how to manage or run a union because they've been around for a long time. I personally think that they could be doing it better."

Rodriguez added that he wants to go to airport terminals where Southwest has bases to educate fellow flight attendants about the potential new union. He has filed permits to organize members at Houston's Hobby Airport.

"It's going to take a movement," he said.

International oversight

Amid the union drama, TWU International has assigned an executive officer that has the power to examine the finances of the Local 556, according to a letter from international leadership that was seen by The News.

"We have assigned International Vice President Gary Peterson to be the international staff representative who will work with and oversee Local 556, the letter said. "Brother Peterson's experience in airline division affairs is long and relevant."

The decision to install Peterson comes just days after the TWU International reassigned Thom McDaniel, who was previously assigned to work with Local 556. The letter outlining the reassignment did not specifically say why McDaniel was removed, only saying that it was "in accordance with a shift or representational responsibilities." After the union's president, John Samuelsen, had received a number of letters from Local 556 requesting that he determine if the local union's policy of filling its board vacancies between elections follows TWU International's constitution, Samuelsen determined the current policy violated the constitution and would not be valid for vacancies after the next election.

The international union said Peterson will be able to provide the local board advice on how to avoid being distracted from its duties by internal conflict while also providing assistance.

But Local 556 leaders aren't worried about the oversight.

"We send our financials over to TWU International on a monthly basis," said Rosenberg. "We're not really overly concerned about the whole ... finances portion of it. We're very open with our finances."

TWU International declined to provide further comment on the matter.

"We welcomed him this week," said Wilkins. "We had our scheduled executive board meeting. It was great having him there. And again, we pride ourselves in a lot of the amazing work that we're doing, and he got to see that because that's never amplified as often as the bad news."

Rosenberg added: "We have some very passionate members, and sometimes it takes time and a little bit of experience to understand. 'OK, what's the best way to use this passion, and how can I how can I make a difference with it? How can I get involved in my union, and what can I do to really unify us and make us better?' It's easy to complain, but it's a lot harder to take steps to really make a change."