A Southwest Airlines flight attendant is enjoying the celebration after receiving $5.3 million by the US District Court in Texas.
Charlene Carter got fired back in the year 2017 when she wrote an angry note to the union's boss, pointing to the fact that dues paid by members were used to send over a dozen more flight attendants to the Women's March, a rabidly left-wing, pro-abortion gathering. Carter is a fervent Christian, and she was unhappy with the money she earned being used for promoting something that she opposed, and was fired for speaking up against the union's management.
Half a decade after being dismissed because of her pro-life beliefs, she's now been awarded $4.15 million by Southwest Airlines and an additional $1.15 million from her former union.
The U.S. The District Court case concluded that the airline based in Dallas as well as the union of flight attendants, Transport Workers Union Local 556, did not respect the rights of workers to speak out against the union. The jury ruled that Southwest Airlines should pay $4.15 million back in unpaid wages in pain and suffering as well as other costs, and that the union should also pay her $1.15 million.
Charlene Carter was dismissed in March 2017 following a string of angry messages directed at TWU Local 556's President Audrey Stone, calling her “despicable” for attending the Women's March in Washington, D.C. in the previous year, as per the lawsuit.
The first thing I thought of when I read this report was why the union was able to send anyone for the Women's March in the first place. What does that have to do with the job of a flight attendant and why would you even be opening yourself to internal division regarding this issue? The more corporate entities engage in politics in the process, the more they alienate their client base as well as, in this case the employees. It's not difficult to focus solely on the mission of the business.
In the case of Southwest Airlines specifically, has any major company burned its image to the ground more in the last couple of years? The once-popular “fun” airline that was “different,” Southwest is now placed in the same class with the rest of them, and rightfully so. They shouldn't have accepted the union boss's tactics of retaliation that eventually caused the firing of Carter.
In short, companies that don't stick to their own lane and choose to go political are likely to be subject to more and more criticism as time passes. Carter could have not filed her complaint if the union did not remain neutral on such an important matter. If they did not, she had the right to speak out against her management. The unwise decision to remove her is costing the business along with the trade union hundreds of thousands. My reaction? Good.
