Spirit Pilot Contract Negotiantions end: Strike loms

[Grandpa +65]

Spirit Pilot Contract Negotiations End: Strike Looms

Pilots Picket Airport and Company Headquarters Demanding a New Contract




Press Release Source: Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) On Monday February 22, 2010, 5:43 pm EST
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spirit pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), concluded mediated talks with the company on February 18 without any progress toward a new contract. The pilots have been negotiating for three-and-a-half years and in federally mediated talks for over six months. The end of scheduled talks may result in the pilots calling a lawful strike should the group be released to seek self-help from the National Mediation Board.
Spirit Airlines has been profitable for four consecutive quarters, enjoys the lowest cost per block in the industry, and claims that it is growing. However, the company continues to put forward a five-year contract with $31 million in concessions, including work rule changes that would allow the company to furlough more than 54 pilots.
“Even in harsh dictatorships, they give you a blindfold and a cigarette before the hanging,” said Sean Creed, Spirit MEC chair. “In this operation, they want you to put the noose around your own neck and pull the trap door open yourself—which is exactly what we would be doing if we were to agree to these demands.”
Spirit management has also requested changes to the contract that directly jeopardize the quality of life, health, and safety of its pilots. For example, the company proposes that longevity be based on hours flown per year rather than years of service. Pilots who try to meet their family obligations and live reasonable lives would stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a career. Additionally, pilots may feel pressured to fly even when sick or fatigued in order to build hours and increase their income.
“The picture is painfully clear,” said ALPA president Capt. John Prater. “After everything our Association has done to try to recover from a lost decade in this industry, Spirit management is trying to restart the race to the bottom. I am proud of our Spirit pilot leadership and membership for standing up to absurd and grossly unfair demands and for insisting that they receive compensation appropriate to pilots flying Airbus aircraft at a major carrier.”
Spirit pilots marked the end of mediated talks by holding two picketing events over the past few days. On Friday, February 19, more than 60 pilots demonstrated at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood airport—the main hub of Spirit Airlines. The pilots gathered in force again on Monday, February 22, right outside company headquarters in Miramar, Fla., to bring the message directly to Spirit executives: “Spirit pilots are ready to call a lawful strike.”
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union and represents 53,250 pilots at 37 airlines in the United States and Canada, including more than 500 pilots at Spirit Airlines. Visit the ALPA website at http://www.alpa.org.

 

[Grandpa +65]

Good luck guys. It is time to show Ben baldanza that you guys have Cojones!

 

[goahead]

Damn what a great example of greed in the corporate division, hope you guys get released. It's like all overpaid execs want every American worker to earn like third world countries, time to take back our country and jobs that give us pride to work at

 

[pilotyip]

worked for Midwest Express didn't it?

 

[JetMonkey]

Longevity based on hours worked, not years on property. Unfreaking believeable. What new lows these prick$ will come up with. I hope they get released.

 

[pilotyip]

Allegiant model

What about the model of the Allegiant contract? Win-win for both sides

 

[Mike man]

I feel like a JetBlue contract model would would work much better...

Intl override
Night override
150% above 78 hours
Plus a minimum day of 5 hours or so to keep away from these one leg days to spend 28 hours or more in DTW, BOS, SJU, MCO, RSW, TPA, and so on.

I am a little concerned about the lack of communication from the MEC...they sent out this strike preparedness pamphlet and silence, except for a few meeting reminders.

 

[QOL_is_great:)]

Good luck to ya!!! If ya do strike then I hope you picket a lot of your bases. Let the public know and hand out one page flyers.

Again, good luck!!!

 

[Dizel8]

worked for Midwest Express didn't it?

You must mean the took a paycut, yet management was unable to run a profitable airline, so it must surely be managements fault. Yep, that is what I think you meant to say'

 

[pilotyip]

Don't think so

You must mean the took a paycut, yet management was unable to run a profitable airline, so it must surely be managements fault. Yep, that is what I think you meant to say'

Back in 2000 ME was a nice little niche airline, pilots were paid below industry stds for their equipment. But they had a job at a place most seemed to like to work, Along comes ALPA and gets them industry std wages which increased the burden on the bottom line. This required management break its niche in order to generate more revenue, there airline started becoming more like other airlines they had to now start to complete on price not service, bye, bye niche. Then came the pay cut in an attempt to save the airline, then came the end. Now other thing contributed to this one being internet access to ticket pricing, other airlines grabbing market share out of the MKE hub. I think that is what I meant. Which firs the chicken or the egg?

 

[CRJFlyer]

For as long as my short memory remembers..every contract that has been signed after 9/11 (or maybe even before then) has somehow screwed the pilots in one way or another....

Hell, even our NJA IBB in '07 (voted YES) aided in schedulings efficiency with crews and work days..meaning they really needed less of us in the end.. I was new then and didn't know too much about how the scheduling worked at the fractionals etc..

This contract sounds like complete sh!t. Just reading some of the details from an outside perspective throws up red flags!

 

[likeitis]

Back in 2000 ME was a nice little niche airline, pilots were paid below industry stds for their equipment. But they had a job at a place most seemed to like to work, Along comes ALPA and gets them industry std wages which increased the burden on the bottom line. This required management break its niche in order to generate more revenue, there airline started becoming more like other airlines they had to now start to complete on price not service, bye, bye niche. Then came the pay cut in an attempt to save the airline, then came the end. Now other thing contributed to this one being internet access to ticket pricing, other airlines grabbing market share out of the MKE hub. I think that is what I meant. Which firs the chicken or the egg?

Do you really have that thick of blinders on? There were many times that the pilots could have worked for free and ME wouldn't have been profitable. Somehow the ME pilots are to blame for the walmarting of society. Couldn't be things like the CEO turning down guaranteed profitable contracts with people like NASCAR because he thought "those" people were beneath him. How about having nearly zero hedging plan? How about picking dead end aircraft? How about spending close to 10 million on payouts to employees who were illegally terminated? What was the total money they spent on consultants to do their jobs? Best guess is at least 2 years salary of the entire pilot group. How about taking close to 2 years to implement a fuel conservation program that was almost exactly the same as what ALPA proposed?

 

[pilotyip]

pilots ALPA all the answers?

Do you really have that thick of blinders on? There were many times that the pilots could have worked for free and ME wouldn't have been profitable. Somehow the ME pilots are to blame for the walmarting of society. Couldn't be things like the CEO turning down guaranteed profitable contracts with people like NASCAR because he thought "those" people were beneath him. How about having nearly zero hedging plan? How about picking dead end aircraft? How about spending close to 10 million on payouts to employees who were illegally terminated? What was the total money they spent on consultants to do their jobs? Best guess is at least 2 years salary of the entire pilot group. How about taking close to 2 years to implement a fuel conservation program that was almost exactly the same as what ALPA proposed?

I only know what I read ATW. It appears you have all the answers, if so why are you not in management making the aviaiton industry a better place t owork? Then how come the pilots did not buy the airline and run it he way it should have been run? Maybe maybe managment lost interest in the airline after while when they saw there was no way to save it? maybe it was there time to go out of buniess no matter what? As per above which came first the chicken or the egg

 

[huncowboy]

I only know what I read ATW. It appears you have all the answers, if so why are you not in management making the aviaiton industry a better place t owork? Then how come the pilots did not buy the airline and run it he way it should have been run? Maybe maybe managment lost interest in the airline after while when they saw there was no way to save it? maybe it was there time to go out of buniess no matter what? As per above which came first the chicken or the egg

How about you take your anti ALPA discussion into one of the 1000 alpa vs non threads. This airline is unionized and that will not change. Thanks for your support! Please leave.

 

[likeitis]

I only know what I read ATW. It appears you have all the answers, if so why are you not in management making the aviaiton industry a better place t owork? Then how come the pilots did not buy the airline and run it he way it should have been run? Maybe maybe managment lost interest in the airline after while when they saw there was no way to save it? maybe it was there time to go out of buniess no matter what? As per above which came first the chicken or the egg

It seems you have a reading comprehension problem. Where are answers in my post? One thing I do know is that if an employee who comes to me with way to save 20 million/year, I'm not going to sit on it because my arrogance is too great because I didn't come up with the answer. I'm also not going to avoid implementing cost savings and revenue generators because it would decrease my ability to get pay cuts from my employees. All the things I listed are things that people with the most basic elementary education could see is absurd.

The solution comes from quarterly press releases every 3 months from a company in Dallas. The answer is respect and morality. GK said it best, "If I need to ask for pay cuts from my employees it means that I have failed." 90+% of the airlines including the ones you happen to be involved with have been failing for years, but I have yet to hear a single word from any manager admitting to their failure. The George Bush complex I guess.

I guess you have to defend management because if I'm correct you are a manager and your company is/has been a failure.

 

[Redmeat]

For as long as my short memory remembers..every contract that has been signed after 9/11 (or maybe even before then) has somehow screwed the pilots in one way or another....

My son who is succsesfull in business outside of aviation pointed somthing out to me once when we were discussing airline industry strife. "Pilots as a rule will not quit flying. Upper level manangers are trained in labor tactics. They know this. Pilot's have no leverage." .

It's hard to get good contracts when management knows you aren't willing to do anything else and aren't going anywhere.

 

[pilotyip]

Nice touch of reality

My son who is succsesfull in business outside of aviation pointed somthing out to me once when we were discussing airline industry strife. "Pilots as a rule will not quit flying. Upper level manangers are trained in labor tactics. They know this. Pilot's have no leverage." .

It's hard to get good contracts when management knows you aren't willing to do anything else and aren't going anywhere.

One of those posts that does not fit the misplaced reality of many pilots. Aircorbra has done some nice post of reality in aonther thread. However if I post reality it is labeled as anti-union. This comes from being a former union member and seeing their limitations in affecting things against economic reality. BTW It's hard to get good contracts when management knows you aren't willing to do anything else and aren't going anywhere. Nor for most later in life capable of doing anything else

 

[Colonel Savage]

When does the 30 day cooling off period start?

 

[boomlrd]

Hopefully soon!

 

[600rvr]

More like when the RLA gets repealed :angryfire what a crock of a process this is. They have blatantly abused the contract and will have ZERO accountability for it when this is all over. I'm so tired of doing everything legally when they don't have to even consider following the law... they can't arrest 500 of us if we "illegally" walk off the job without a warning... so what are we waiting for?? :bomb:

 

[Mike man]

...they can't arrest 500 of us if we "illegally" walk off the job without a warning...

From February 1999...Over the last two days, hundreds of American Airline pilots ended their sick-out and were back on the job, this after a federal judge found their union in contempt, and threatened it with a $10 million fine.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june99/american_2-15.html

They might not arrest 500 pilots, but they could fine the union or the individuals involved.

But you are preaching to the choir, the RLA protects management from labor, and not even in a 50/50 balance...management does what ever they want and we are left with the repercussions until we win an arbitration (4 days off).

 

[enigma]

From February 1999...Over the last two days, hundreds of American Airline pilots ended their sick-out and were back on the job, this after a federal judge found their union in contempt, and threatened it with a $10 million fine.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june99/american_2-15.html

They might not arrest 500 pilots, but they could fine the union or the individuals involved.

But you are preaching to the choir, the RLA protects management from labor, and not even in a 50/50 balance...management does what ever they want and we are left with the repercussions until we win an arbitration (4 days off).

The RLA protects the American transportation system and therefore the American economy. The Federal Court system screws us by siding with management. Bankruptcy Courts really screw us. ALPA screws us because National is scared of being held liable for our actions. All we can do is stand together and hope our leadership is able to find a way to lead us out of the wilderness.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

More like when the RLA gets repealed :angryfire what a crock of a process this is. They have blatantly abused the contract and will have ZERO accountability for it when this is all over. I'm so tired of doing everything legally when they don't have to even consider following the law... they can't arrest 500 of us if we "illegally" walk off the job without a warning... so what are we waiting for?? :bomb:

Why don't you get your 500 pilots to give your MEC chairman your termination notice. Actually 250 will shut down the airline. Let him negotiate with that stack of paper

 

[Mike man]

...the American economy...

Which part, the Chinese part or the part the Goldman Sachs owns?

So a piece of legislation from the 1930's (with roots back to the 1910's) to help railroads is some how relevant today?

The Federal Court system screws us by siding with management. Bankruptcy Courts really screw us. ALPA screws us because National is scared of being held liable for our actions. All we can do is stand together and hope our leadership is able to find a way to lead us out of the wilderness.

All true.

The way out is to amend the RLA to reflect the world we live in (i.e. corporate greed, corporate mismanagement, workers loosing jobs and pay while executives get larger and larger salaries and bonuses). Or better yet introduce new legislation to reflect the various modes of transportation (that help what is left of the US economy) rail and airline (and the longshoremen should be thrown in there too) make it a balanced system add a railroad type retirement system to the airline industry. Make it prohibitively expensive to prolong negotiations, at the end of a contract everyone immediately gets a 100% raise and 50% each month after the end of a transportation contract. It may look like a victory for, lets say the Spirit pilots to get a 40% raise, but after almost four years of negotiating it is really more like a 10% raise and with a cost of living increase is really closer to a 6-7% raise.

 

[enigma]

Why don't you get your 500 pilots to give your MEC chairman your termination notice. Actually 250 will shut down the airline. Let him negotiate with that stack of paper

First, the leadership hasn't asked. Second, everybody wants somebody else to take the bullet.

 

[jetalc]

Back in 2000 ME was a nice little niche airline, pilots were paid below industry stds for their equipment. But they had a job at a place most seemed to like to work, Along comes ALPA and gets them industry std wages which increased the burden on the bottom line. This required management break its niche in order to generate more revenue, there airline started becoming more like other airlines they had to now start to complete on price not service, bye, bye niche. Then came the pay cut in an attempt to save the airline, then came the end. Now other thing contributed to this one being internet access to ticket pricing, other airlines grabbing market share out of the MKE hub. I think that is what I meant. Which firs the chicken or the egg?

Sorry, Dude - very hard to read. Not trying to be the grammar police, but MAN!

 

[pilotyip]

Sorry, Dude - very hard to read. Not trying to be the grammar police, but MAN!

soory a little ATIS shorthand?

 

[jetalc]

soory a little ATIS shorthand?

LOL - no worries...just had to comment.

 

[B190Captain]

Best of luck to Spirit pilots.

 

[Propsync]

I only know what I read ATW.

Wow. In 8000+ posts you couldn't find the time to ask hundreds here who would gladly regale you in the shortcomings of the Midwest business model. Instead, you play it off and attack likeitis. It sounds like someone was a few credits short in the humanities and business areas.