Southwest Airlines transport workers approve new labor contract

(Reuters) -Southwest Airlines said on Thursday ramp, operations, provisioning and cargo agents approved a new five-year labor contract.

The contract covers 18,000 workers, represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 555.

The agreement with Southwest constitutes a wage rate of $38 per hour at the top of the wage scale, which TWU had said last month was 6.6% above United Airlines' current industry leading rate.

The deal also allows workers to reach the top of the pay scale after 10 years of service instead of 11 years.

In the past two years, unions representing pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers have sought higher wages, better scheduling and other benefits against the backdrop of a tight U.S. labor market.

On Wednesday, the union representing nearly 20,000 of Southwest's flight attendants reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract after two previous attempts failed.

Southwest has ratified contracts with ten worker groups since October 2022. Earlier this year, the airline reached a deal with its pilots, which will offer about a 50% pay raise over a five-year period.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)