August 24, 2026

Participants for AMFA:
Bret Oestreich – National President
Earl Clark – Region I Director
Wilber "Will" Abbott – Region II Director
Louis Upchurch – Local 4 ALR
Frank Suentzenich – Local 11 ALR
Wayne Lampley – Local 18 ALR
Ken Patrick – Local 32 ALR
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel
Peter Manikowski – Economist

Participants for Southwest Airlines:
Michelle Jordan - Mng. Dir., Labor Relations
Kurt Kinder – VP, Maintenance Operations
Don Roberts – Mng. Dir. Tech. Ops Production
Rob Jones – Senior Lead Counsel/Chief Negotiator
Kris Townsend – Sr. Labor Administration Manager
Patrick Breit – Sr. Advisor, Financial Planning/Analysis
Cristian Chaver – Sr. Mng., Labor Planning/Analytics
Kevin Chen – Labor Planning/Analytics

The AMFA-Southwest Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) Negotiating Committee (the “Committee”) is providing this update to the Membership at Southwest Airlines (“Southwest”). This is the Committee's only official source of negotiating communications.

The Committee held a four-day collective bargaining session (August 18-21) with Southwest Airlines in Denver, Co. The parties began the process on Day 1 by discussing different paths and options toward a successor agreement to the Blue Book. The parties agreed to first conduct off-the-record exploratory discussions to determine whether an extension to the current agreement was a viable path. In support of this exercise, the parties negotiated and entered into a Protocol Agreement setting parameters for these off-the-record exploratory discussions. Either party may, if such exploratory discussions are unsuccessful, terminate the Protocol Agreement by written notice. Once terminated, the parties would proceed away from extension discussions and into a more comprehensive negotiation process. The Protocol Agreement also ensures that once either side terminates the agreement, everything discussed during the exploratory phase will be without prejudice to and not affect any future negotiation position.

The parties spent the remainder of the week exchanging and discussing off-the-record extension “supposals” or non-binding proposals. The Company presented the first supposal, followed by a counter-supposal from AMFA, a counter from Southwest, and another counter by AMFA. The substance of these proposals was, pursuant to the Protocol Agreement, off-the record. However, the parties made progress with their respective supposals and will continue the exploratory phase during the next session scheduled for August 31 – September 2 in Chicago.

We would like to thank all the observers that took time from their days to attend and experience the negotiation process. In addition, we would like to express our gratitude to the many members that reached out to provide their support during this first week of negotiation. Solidarity is our greatest strength. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your ALR if you have any questions.

Fraternally,

AMFA-SWA AMT Negotiating Committee