Southwest pilots turn down contract offer - Dallas Business Journal:

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The union, which represents Dallas-based Southwest’es (NYSE: LUV) 5,900 pilots, said 51 percen t of pilots voted against the contract with 95 percent of the uniob participating inthe vote. The pilots unioh and Southwest have been negotiating the new contract sincewSeptember 2006. "Our pilotw have spoken, and the group has statee there is more work to be said Capt. Carl Kuwitzky, President of the Southwesf Airlines Pilots' Association (SWAPA). "This contract, despite some financial gains, contained too many othe negative aspects toratify it.
" The union was not specific about member objections to the but said the association will poll its members to determinwe what elements require further discussion with the company. In a statement issuex Wednesday, Chuck Magill, vice presideng of flight operations at SouthwestAirlines said: "Wse are naturally disappointed and acknowledge it was a very closr vote. We reached a tentative agreemenr ingood faith, and both sides put a lot of efforgt into getting to this We have an outstanding and highly productive group of and we appreciate theier active involvement in the voting process.
We welcomd the opportunity for our negotiating teamsto re-engagde and work toward an agreement that best meets the needs of our compangy and our outstanding pilots during these challenging economic times.”