Southwest Airlines Case Study

A union is an organization of workers who join together in order to have a voice in improving their jobs and the quality of work within the organization. In many occasions, unions help employees of an organization negotiate pay, benefits, flexible hours and other work conditions that may arise. Unions have a role because some degree of conflict is inevitable between workers and management (Noe, 2003). In this paper, I will be discussing the impact of unions and labor relations within an organization.

This paper will explore the role of labor unions within the Unites States. The effectiveness of Unions and how they are important for the stability of the American economy. Unions provide many benefits to employees due to the working relationship with management and politicians in the U.S Congress. Some of the benefits that provided by unions are, paid vacations, pensions, an 8 hour work day with breaks and social security benefits. Unions are continually fighting with politicians and the State Government for better benefits. Will discuss the role of HRM’s employee relations within the organizations and what role the government should play.

The union and the employer work out the details of the employees' wages, benefits, working conditions,

Southwest Airlines is a passenger airline company that arranges and provides scheduled flights for passenger and transportation freight services. The company mainly provides, low-fare, point-to-point services all over the US and near-international markets. The headquarters is located in Dallas, Texas and as of December 2014, the company employed over 46,278 people. The company was founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher in 1971. Southwest was the first airline to introduce the frequent mile program. This took place in the mid 1980’s. This type of program allowed passengers to add up traveled miles to use later as credit on a future airline ticket. The traveled miles would add up and would also reduce the price of a ticket. Southwest created the idea of senior discount, fun fares and the fun packs. These were perks that attracted people from different age groups. When Southwest originally was incorporated, the idea was to operate in three cities in Texas, but after taking over Morris Air and TranStar in 1987, this gave them a cutting advantage in the airline industry.

This is over issues of wages, employment conditions and managerial rights. Therefore, give a rise to industrial relations systems; this is the rules, regulations and institutions that govern the employment relationship.

Answer The labor relations role is typically making provision of advise to managers in regards to labor relations issues that arise in their areas of responsibility. The workforce in this company is comprised by employees represented by unions and other employees who are not union-represented as well as

A labor union is a group containing workers who come together and organize an organization to champion their interests in the labor market. The union so formed negotiates for better working conditions, increased job security, safer working conditions, better remuneration and compensation perks (Carver, 2011). In this regard, negotiations play a very important role in coming up with collective bargaining agreements, thus a negotiation process to articulate the interests of employees as represented by their union and employers. The union representatives and employers’ representatives need to have the full mandate of the parties they represent and be willing to participate in the collective bargaining negotiation process in order to ensure that the interests of the parties they represent are well captured and enumerated in the final collective bargaining agreement (Carrell & Heavrin, 2004).

Labor relations purpose is to minimize costly employee and organization conflicts and try to always find a "win-win" solution to issues that arise. Labor relations strategies, negotiating contracts and administering contracts are the three levels of decision that are involved within labor relations.

industrial relations (i.e. policy and practices in relationships with unions and union representatives, procedure agreements covering recognition, disputes, grievances, redundancy, etc.; negotiations with full-time officials and with shop stewards);

“Robert Tobias (2010) argues that to be effective, human resource managers need to embrace the possibility of positive and productive relations with labor unions.” (Riccucci pg. 10-11)

In this report, the shift in the approach to employee relations will be discussed based on the case of one of world’s biggest

When on vacation, the first people you deal with are the airline companies, yes this is the dreaded trip to the airport. Way to often people have their happy vacations ruined by inconsistent and unreliable customer service, making them late for flights because of long lines, slow service, and unreliable technology that is difficult to use. However, Southwest airlines is one company that is standing out above all others. Known for their outstanding customer service and “Bags Fly Free” campaign, Southwest has held their ground against rising prices in airline travel and continued to expand its reaches while at the same time attracting many satisfied customers. Southwest Airlines was founded on June 18, 1971 by Rollen King and Herb Kellener. The very same year, Southwest began its flights servicing Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Southwest quickly climbed the ranks within airline the industry and became the fifth largest US air carrier by 1998, carrying an average of 50 million passengers a year across the United States. From then on, Southwest soared above the rest of the mid-range air carriers, and continues to do so to this day. Southwest quickly became known for its innovation when it comes to customer service and satisfaction, and it is still well known today for its simple and convenient customer service. Southwest has also been deeply involved when it comes to their social responsibilities, taking action to be ecofriendly whenever, and wherever possible. (Avstop)

Companies are interested in leveraging relationships with their employees in order to improve the quality of the health care they provide. Labor relations refer to managing situations between companies and their employees in different unions. This activity is usually attributed to human resources management. Therefore, this ensures that the objectives of the company are reflected by these relations.

This proposal addresses the needed steps to be taken in order for Southwest Airlines to see continued growth in the airline industry. Southwest Airlines has been able to remain one of the most profitable airlines in the industry for an extended period of time. Even with the hindrance of the 2001 terrorist attacks involving airplanes and the U.S recession of 2008, Southwest has continued to see strong revenue growth. Meanwhile, other companies were experiencing major losses and in some cases folding. Southwest Airlines has capitalized on the company’s strength of being the top low cost

With 1988 operating income of $801 million on a revenue of $8.55 billion, American Airlines, Inc. (American), principal subsidiary of Dallas/Fort Worth-based AMR Corporation, was the largest airline in the United States. At year-end 1988 American operated 468 aircraft on 2,200 flights daily to 151 destinations in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, France, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela, and West Germany.