A week after a majority of the pilots at Southwest Airlines Co., rejected a proposed four-year labor contract, their union president said he will step down at the end of December, only halfway through his two-year term.

According to a spokesman for the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association, Capt. Paul Jackson said in a letter to the union's board that "an institutional change in direction…is required after a failed tentative agreement ratification." The four members of the union's negotiating committee also are resigning and will go back to full-time flying on Jan. 1, Capt. Jackson said in the letter.

Last week, nearly 62% of Southwest's 8,000 pilots voted against the new contract even though it would have raised their wages by more than 17% over the term. Just 38% of the ballots cast were in favor of the deal, reached after three years of bargaining. The voted mirrored an even wider rejection of a new contract in July by Southwest's flight attendants. Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots in July also voted down a new deal, and their leader quickly resigned.

In the coming days, about 9,000 mechanics at United Continental Holdings Inc. are expected to vote on a proposed six-year agreement. More than 14,000 customer-service and reservations agents at American Airlines Group Inc., currently are deciding whether to ratify a new deal.

The labor discord comes as airlines are producing record profits and employees are seeking richer compensation. But airlines want to hold the line on their No. 1 cost, which is labor. And many employees, particularly those whose companies have gone through bankruptcy-court proceedings in the past, want to make up for concessions they made in grimmer times. Southwest, which never has restructured in court, has some of the highest pay and benefits in the industry.

Southwest's Capt. Jackson, 51 years old, started his two-year term in January of this year. As a result of his pending departure, an election will be held next month to select a person to fill out the remainder of his term, the union spokesman said. Another election will be called next fall to select a leader for the next two years. "It is time to bargain from a position of strength and unity as a group," the departing pilot leader said in his letter to the board.

Write to Susan Carey at susan.carey@wsj.com

 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 10, 2015 19:35 ET (00:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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