This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. Southwest, Without the Stunts July 7, 2002 By MICHELINE MAYNARD The best advice that the chief executive of Southwest Airlines, James F. Parker, says he ever received was that he could catch more flies with honey than vinegar. These days, Mr. Parker may need an entire beehive. A year into his job, Mr. Parker faces labor disputes that have ruffled the airline's reputation as a friendly employer. Last week, pilots began voting on a contract offer that union leaders call too stingy. Mechanics have asked a federal mediator to help settle a contract battle that has lasted two years. Ground workers have sued the airline over its use of government screening data to discipline employees. Flight attendants and reservations agents want new contracts. The labor problems didn't keep Mr. Parker, 55, from attending the airline's annual employee awards banquet on June 29 in Dallas. It was the first time that he had held the center seat at the event as chief executive - a position filled flamboyantly for almost 20 years by his predecessor, Herbert D. Kelleher. And conflicts or no, Mr. Parker received a standing ovation from the 2,300 guests, which perhaps symbolizes management's view of its relations with employees. Mr. Parker, who had been Southwest's general counsel, refuses to acknowledge turbulence between management and labor. "I think we have a superb relationship," he said in a telephone interview last week from the company's headquarters in Dallas. "There's really nothing more important that we do than have a relationship with our employees." Union leaders are not so conciliatory. Jonathan Weaks, president of the Southwest Airline Pilots Association, said Mr. Parker should delegate the task of labor negotiations. If he doesn't, Mr. Weaks said, Southwest risks losing the level of communication between management and employees that has set it apart from major carriers like American, Delta and United, which have been racked with labor problems. "We don't want to be just another airline," Mr. Weaks said. Mr. Parker said he believed Southwest would stay unique. "We practice the golden rule," he said. "We work hard at maintaining a highly ethical, straightforward business." But Mr. Parker is no pushover, as Mr. Weaks discovered in June. Unhappy with Southwest's final contract offer of a 35 percent raise over four years, he pressed Mr. Parker for more. Mr. Parker refused. "I think this is one place where the company made a mistake," Mr. Weaks said. Mr. Parker called the offer the best Southwest could make. But even if pilots vote down the offer, Mr. Parker is not likely to complain. On his desk is a sign that reads, "No Whining" - and it really is the way he operates, said Deborah Ackerman, who succeeded Mr. Parker as general counsel. "Jim never lets his ego get in the way of what is going on," Ms. Ackerman said. Mr. Parker, a former assistant attorney general in Texas, was born in San Antonio and received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Texas. Outwardly, at least, he is modest and easy-going. Workplace colleagues say he brews the office coffee in the morning, makes his own photocopies, wears khakis and golf shirts to work and, like Mr. Kelleher, shares a liking for Wild Turkey bourbon. Mr. Kelleher first got to know him in 1977. They met in a Texas courtroom, where they represented clients involved in a suit over investments by the University of Houston. Mr. Kelleher persuaded Mr. Parker to join his San Antonio law firm, and in 1986 to come to Southwest, where Mr. Kelleher was known as a chief executive for whom no stunt was too silly. He once donned an Elvis suit and rode a motorcycle to promote the airline, acts that Mr. Parker is not likely to emulate. About as far as he will go is gentle joshing, like his teasing suggestion at an analysts' meeting in New York that he planned to transform Southwest's profitable point-to-point system of short flights into a complex hub-and-spoke operation like those at the bigger, money-losing airlines. Simply put, "Jim is just not as zany as Herb," said Betsy Snyder, a transportation analyst at Standard & Poor's, the ratings agency in New York, who has met with both men. Just how Mr. Parker will lead Southwest is still in question. "I don't think he has made his mark yet," Ms. Snyder said. Mr. Weaks says he is sympathetic to Mr. Parker's burden in following Mr. Kelleher, who has taken on responsibility for Southwest's Washington affairs. "Jim's the guy that replaced God - or Tom Landry," said Mr. Weaks, referring to the revered coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Still, Mr. Parker, who has been married for 31 years and has a grown son and daughter, isn't one to shirk risk. Soon after he joined Mr. Kelleher's law firm, Mr. Kelleher asked him to study whether Southwest should join with other airlines in a common reservation system. Mr. Parker thought Southwest, thriving with low fares and no-frills service, would be better off on its own. The decision stays in place as one of Southwest's hallmarks. Ms. Snyder and other analysts give Mr. Parker credit for the airline's steadiness after the Sept. 11 attacks. Despite falling sales, the airline proceeded with a profit-sharing payment that fell due days afterward, and it did not reduce flights or lay off pilots or other employees even as competitors were cutting back. In the months since, bigger airlines have tried to attract passengers by offering the kind of low fares that Southwest has long claimed as its calling card. But Southwest has kept its customers and continues to expand; it now serves 114 cities. And while competitors have suffered hundreds of millions in losses, Southwest has continued to make money, albeit less than before. For 2001, Southwest earned $511.1 million, down from $625.2 million in 2000. For the first quarter of 2002, it earned $21.4 million, versus $121 million in the period a year earlier. The labor issues at Southwest that are testing Mr. Parker's leadership don't seem to be worrying the travel industry, where the airline is still viewed as strong and stable. "He's right. You've got to fight these things," said Michael Schlott, owner and president of International Tours in Atlanta. "Otherwise prices go up, and you're in the same position as everyone else." For his part, Mr. Parker said he thought that union officials had the company's best interests at heart. "Even when we disagree," he said, "I can look across the table and see no one who wants to injure this airline." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/business/yourmoney/07PROF.html?ex=1027058655&ei=1&en=5a3c02c3deaaa036 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company