Southwest pilots approve new contract

Pilots at Southwest voted to ratify a new contract that hikes wages and alters retirement benefits, their union said Monday, following more than four years of talks. The approval marks a step toward better labour relations at the US budget airline after recent picketing by workers and calls by union leaders for two executives to resign. The new contract raises pay by 15% upon ratification, followed by increases of 3% annually through 2020, the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association said. The deal, reached with the help of US mediators, moves pilots from a company-matching pension plan to one where they are not required to contribute to receive benefits, the union said. It also protects pilots' work in case Southwest chooses to market flights on non-US airlines. More than 84% of voting pilots approved the deal, with turnout at 96%, the union said. Southwest is "starting to put behind some of the rancor that has punctuated the place for the past couple years," industry consultant Robert Mann said. Under the new contract, the pilots' union said a captain in his or her first year with Southwest will now make $221.01 per hour, up from $192.18.<br/>