Union, Vegas workers at odds on overtime

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Thursday, Aug. 31, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

Supervisory personnel at Southwest Airlines may man ramp positions in Las Vegas over the Labor Day weekend if provisioning and operations employees decline to work overtime hours.

Union officials say a job action has not been authorized and a Southwest spokesman said reports of a planned employee "sick-out" are "as bogus as bogus can be."

Ed Stewart, manager of public relations for Dallas-based Southwest, Las Vegas' largest carrier, and Gary Shults, president of Transport Workers Union Local 555, which represents 5,000 Southwest ramp employees nationwide, including about 300 in Las Vegas, said reports of a job action are false.

But sources said ramp personnel, unhappy that a contract has not been reached with the union, would decline to work overtime, setting the stage for employee shortages over the weekend when 266,000 people are expected to visit Las Vegas.