Southwest’s labour chief departs amid rancorous union talks

Southwest Airlines' head of labour relations is retiring less than a month after 4 of the carrier’s largest unions sought the resignation of its top executives amid stalled contract negotiations. Randy Babbitt joined Southwest in 2012 and is departing following more than 50 years in the industry. Southwest’s pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and airport ground workers called for CE Gary Kelly and COO Mike Van de Ven to step down earlier this month after a computer system outage caused the cancellation of 2,300 flights and left passengers stranded in July. Three of the unions have been in talks for new contracts for at least 3 years. “We are glad to see his departure,” the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said. “His presence has been a hindrance to negotiations progress.” <br/>