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Pay concessions at Spirit?

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Pura Vida

Active member
Joined
Oct 27, 2003
Posts
31
A friend of mine at Spirit today said that the company has asked the pilots for pay concessions. Ostensibly this is to help pay for, "expansion".

1. Spirit pilots are already the lowest paid in the LCC sector.

2. Management's job is to find avenues to fund capital expansion; not to put it on the backs of the employees.

3. If they can't pay for all the new airplanes they want, then don't get so many. Scale back the order to what you can afford.

Good luck Spirit pilots. Don't give in any further to corporate greed!
 
They probably are just asking for it because their shareholders/investors would sue them if they didn't. Virtually everybody is giving concessions these days and it is the CEO's job to get the best deal for his airline, so in this environment they would be stupid not to ask. I can't imagine the spirit pilots would be gullible enough to give concessions when they are paid a fraction of what their peers make and they are not in CH11.
 
Not everyone is giving concessions, ATA, AWA, SWA, CMR, AAI, (DAL yet).
 
LMAO
You have to be kidding???
Not only are we not giving any consessions, I've not heard of them asking!!!
Our contract is good for another 3 years, and then were going to demand a REAL pay raise, the company is making good money, we even got a decent bonus, were hiring.
It Just Ain't Gonna Happen! ! ! !
Captdawg
 
captdawg said:
LMAO
You have to be kidding???
Not only are we not giving any consessions, I've not heard of them asking!!!
Our contract is good for another 3 years, and then were going to demand a REAL pay raise, the company is making good money, we even got a decent bonus, were hiring.
It Just Ain't Gonna Happen! ! ! !
Captdawg

What dawg said!!

Heck no we aren't going to give concessions. We accepted much less in our last contract than we had been promised; so much less that you could say we just gave concessions last year. We are effectively working on a 12 year old pay scale. Like one well known rabble-rouser says, "this ain't no hobby, show me the money".

enigma
 
Thanks for the tip. Mr. Body part seemed to be over his concessionary ways. If you're right I'll buy you a beer, after we smack him upside the head.
 
First, Things first, If ARM was in FLL talking to the Company then he is doing something he is not suppose to do.


That is what the Negotiating committee is for, he only has the right to vote on what ever proposals a put forth to the MEC. Now that there is a specific committee that is charged with negotiating the contract, who were by the way elected to those positions they will handle any talks with the company and submit any final proposal to the MEC for a Vote. Which I am sure they would send it to the members for Ratification Vote.
 
This is a perfect time for any management to try to get concession now--while they can---before things really do improve and loads increase. But, I know----fares will never be as high as they were in the late 90's, and the internet is here to stay. But, I would expect almost everyone to ask for something now----and growth will be the carrot.

Bye Bye---General Lee;)
 
enigma

I wouldn't put it past Schorr to hold the Embraer a/c deal over your heads. Seems to me I remember the General saying that most ALPA contracts have a clause that says when a new aircraft is purchased, the company must pay the average wage until a new contract is signed as long as there are no scope limitations. If you have 3 years to go, and the only contract at present is the MAA deal, this would be a real backstab. I don't know if B6 has published their rates on the 190 yet.

He may be looking for concessions in order to purchase the Airbus 320 in lieu of the 190. I hope I'm wrong, but you never know.
 
Lowcur, I'm way over my head here. I tend to just fly/sit reserve and go home. Now, I've got to go dig up my contract. .........

I didn't find any clause detailing how a new aircraft smaller than the current aircraft would pay.

The contract shows one pay scale. Period. I remember hearing that we get a raise for aircraft over 180 seats, but I didn't find that in my quick perusal of the contract.

The compensation section itself would almost preclude any aircraft type with fewer seats than we currently fly. Our pilot group is in no mood to negotiate a lower scale, especially after the negotiation tactics management used last year.

regards,
enigma
 
enigma

It sounds like you guys are in the drivers seat on any a/c. That's great. With the playing field leveled, the new fleet decision would be one of need. I hope it's a split order.
 
more information

Pura Vida said:
Wasn't ARM in Miramar on Tuesday talking to management about what concessions they wanted from the pilot group?

More info for those wondering what's going on.

ARM is obviously one of our union reps. Shame on you Pure Vida for posting his initials. (OK, now I've covered myself) According to a rep, our MEC did meet with the new investors three weeks ago. As of now, the intent of the meeting has not been made public. I must assume that it was just a meet and greet.

Again, I doubt that our MEC, or it's Chairman, are willing to entertain any concessionary talks. I would also predict that the workplace becomes miserable if they do give any concessions. As I've posted before, a great many Spirit pilots believe that they were snookered in the last contract, and bad feelings are lingering just under the surface. If we conceed, pilots will hate each other, our leaders, management, etc. In general, everybody.

For myself, I would rather forgo growth and stay in a beat up Maddog, than I would take a pay cut to fly an Embraer. Besides, me and my Maddog haven't killed anyone yet, I sort of like the old girls. It's a comforting feeling knowing that every control surface is cable attached to my control yoke. We don't need no electrons baby! Now, if the company is willing to pay me my current scale to fly around 100 seats, maybe I'd cheat on the old girl. :D

enigma
 
JB has not established pay rates on the 190 yet. We all want to know what it will be. We hear it will be based on a percentage of seats vs the A320. That would make it one of the lowest paid 100 seaters out there. 3rd year capt. pay on it would be roughly $74.00 an hr and $111.00 an hr on anything over 70 hrs.
 
The purpose of the meeting was as per the contract, if there is any successorship of the airline to any new owner that the company must inform the Union, ie the MEC chairman. That was the purpose of the meeting call and ask him yourself. He will tell you the same thing. No super secret squirrel sh$t.
 
This thread is a perfect example of the underlying tension at Spirit.

At least 30%(the vote was 70% in favor of acceptance) and most likely, 50% of our pilots felt that the last contract negotiations were concessionary.........for no reason. Many of us, myself included, voted for the contract because we felt/knew that our union leadership was divided and did not have the will to continue the fight. I personally felt that we would have lost by continuing to negotiate; because the negotiators, even though they were willing to continue, publicly stated that they had the best possible deal. After the contract was ratified and the rank and file realized that we had given up more than we realized the blame game began.

I don't know Pura Vida, but it would seem that he/she is a Spirit pilot. And apparently, a Spirit pilot with an ax to grind. Neither do I know the identity of gearthrower or castlebravo, they also appear to be Spirit. I have also noticed that some of the Spirit regulars on this board like DC9Stick have sat this one out. Good for them.

Conclusion. The union leadership should do a better job of informing the members. If the meeting had been publicised early on, someone like Pura Vida would not have felt the need to expose it on a public bulletin board. I believe that castlebravo correctly stated that there will be no concessions at Spirit. We learned our lesson last time, so much so that we are willing to take our infighting public in order to cut any weakness off at the pass. :-)

regards,
enigma

BTW, the current MEC Chair is not the same Captain as the one who took us through negotiations
 
One more thing.

I should have also mentioned that the most of the MEC members who held office at the time of our last contract negotiations are no longer in those positions.

enigma
 

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