[John123]

Actually, no. SouthWest is unionized. Quite unionized. But because there is no "us versus them" attitude, and because the SouthWest executive team is not composed of self-enriching, lying, looters the unions are quite reasonable.

I always thought SW was non-union. It seems you are familiar with the airline industry and unions in particular and your comment is interesting. I am surprised to hear about the amiable relationship between unions and executives at SW because historically this relationship is an adversarial one.

[Archangelsk]

That's because SW hires for attitude not skills.

[dark_lord]

I always thought SW was non-union.

Okay, here's the deal. This link contains this quote:
"Southwest Airlines, today's fastest-growing major airline, is partially employee-owned through stock options for pilots, and through a condition of company-wide profit-sharing that a quarter of the money go to buy company stock. There are millionaires and near-millionaires among rank-and-file employees of the highly unionized airline as a result, but no employee representatives on Southwest's board."

A little diligent web searching will reveal that:
(1) The pilots are members of SWAPA which is a teamsters affiliate.
(2) And the flight attendents are members of the Transport Workers Union Local 556 which represents 7,300 Southwest Airlines flight attendants as of February of this year.
(3) And the SouthWest Airlines mechanics are represented by IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) which just negotiated a new contract in December of 2002.

So, yep, SouthWest Airlines which is so profitable is also quite unionized.