Spirit Airlines Strike Update

:) I'm the lucky one!

And when the CEO sends an email that is, of course, time and date stamped announcing an illegal move, it's easy to send it to the state as an attachment! I just wonder what those high priced suits at Harrison and Ford cost that advised that illegal move! I'm sure they billed for that advice.
 
HRDiva said:
:) I'm the lucky one!

And when the CEO sends an email that is, of course, time and date stamped announcing an illegal move, it's easy to send it to the state as an attachment! I just wonder what those high priced suits at Harrison and Ford cost that advised that illegal move! I'm sure they billed for that advice.
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I don't know you, but I <3 you.

Congrats to you and your husband. Way to toe the line and back down a bully. Bravo.
 
HRDiva said:
:) I'm the lucky one!

And when the CEO sends an email that is, of course, time and date stamped announcing an illegal move, it's easy to send it to the state as an attachment! I just wonder what those high priced suits at Harrison and Ford cost that advised that illegal move! I'm sure they billed for that advice.
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I would make an educated guess that the attorneys told him not to do it, but he went ahead and sent it out anyway. Ben was a pita at USAir and nothing has changed. I really don't think he'll be at Spirit much longer.

Joe
 
I don't know what the attorneys advised. I do know that I have met many DC attorneys that don't really know specific state law. I go to HR conferences and witness it first hand. The good ones ask if we know. The bad ones give misinformation.

I don't know about Ben. I do know he has a lot of the contacts to continue the SA expansion. So they may slap him upside the head but keep him. I hope, if that happens, he's back to being a lot more humble. Once upon a time, in 2005, he was nice.
 
I saw notes still yesterday as I flew one of the negotiators to FLL who was on his way to write the contract. It looked good with regard to the pay rates--which is all I saw as I was busy working preflight and he was mainly conversing with the FO.

All contract negotiations have some give and take. I'm hearing rumors that people are hearing there would be a 15% increase in the cost of health insurance. I don't know if that's true. The previous contract held it to 10% per year. But, my wife, the HR person tells me increases are now coming in at 40-50% in much of the private sector. So, if we hold it to 15% and the company eats the rest, we've won there.

I know we retained all the work rules, kept scope and kept out pref bidding. So, we kept all the good stuff that they wanted to take away and get a raise.
 
lostplanetairman said:
I saw notes still yesterday as I flew one of the negotiators to FLL who was on his way to write the contract. It looked good with regard to the pay rates--which is all I saw as I was busy working preflight and he was mainly conversing with the FO.

All contract negotiations have some give and take. I'm hearing rumors that people are hearing there would be a 15% increase in the cost of health insurance. I don't know if that's true. The previous contract held it to 10% per year. But, my wife, the HR person tells me increases are now coming in at 40-50% in much of the private sector. So, if we hold it to 15% and the company eats the rest, we've won there.

I know we retained all the work rules, kept scope and kept out pref bidding. So, we kept all the good stuff that they wanted to take away and get a raise.
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Sounds good...You guys earned it. I hear you on health care. My company is self insured and our HR person said the private rates are crazy, which is why we self insure.

Keep in touch.
 
Spirit is self insured too. But rates go up because the projected payouts are higher.

Again, I don't even know if that's true. I'm just trying to put it into perspective. I've been hearing people go ballistic about a rumored 15% number when it's only 5% more than in the current contract and protects us from the 40-50% increases in the real world. I didn't see that part of the notes. I just saw the pay and it looked pretty darned good to me. But what do I know? I just fly a bus and ride a Beemer!
 
lostplanetairman said:
Spirit is self insured too. But rates go up because the projected payouts are higher.

Again, I don't even know if that's true. I'm just trying to put it into perspective. I've been hearing people go ballistic about a rumored 15% number when it's only 5% more than in the current contract and protects us from the 40-50% increases in the real world. I didn't see that part of the notes. I just saw the pay and it looked pretty darned good to me. But what do I know? I just fly a bus and ride a Beemer!
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Didn't know you guys were self insured. Glad you are getting some good pay finally. Glad you are back in the air.
 
I didn't know either. It was my wife who told me. She saw that we had provisions that would not be included if we were fully insured--like lifetime limits. She says they go away with health care reform.
 
I don't have to live under it so this is just opinion only but from what I've read of it so far it's an improvement from what you had but in is still below the old(er) B6/F9 rates by a considerable amount.

And the tradition of beating up first year FOs is alive and well.

Again, just my thoughts from a first glance. I have no idea what daily abusive loopholes you got closed or protected from being opening as far as QOL goes.
 
Copied from another board:

At first brush it looks like they got rid of management's attempts to abrogate seniority.

Section 1.B is worth study:

B. Scope
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, all flying on the
Company's aircraft (whether leased to or owned by the Company)
or under the Company's operational control, including wet leases
(aircraft and crew), and contracting for other carriers or entities
(government, military or commercial), but not dry leases (aircraft but
no crew) to other carriers or entities, shall be performed by pilots on
the Spirit Airline Pilots Seniority List.

Spirit airplanes CAN be flown without Spirit pilots.

2. Notwithstanding Section 1.B.1. above, the Company may assign or
contract out revenue flying for a period not in excess of ninety (90)
days per occurrence if (a) such conduct is necessary to accomplish
the needs of the service of the Company, and (b) the Company
does not have sufficient aircraft or pilots to perform the revenue
flying assigned or contracted out, and (c) no Company pilot is
furloughed as a result of such contracting out of revenue flying.
The Company shall provide notice to the Association prior to
entering any agreement to assign or contract out revenue flying.

Spirit passengers CAN be flown by non Spirit pilots for 90 days before a grievance can be filled. The requirement to give notice is unconstrained by a time limit.

3. Nothing in this Section shall preclude the Company from entering
into a code-share agreement, a marketing agreement, an interline
agreement, or a pro-rate or block space agreement, so long as
such agreements do not result in the furlough of any of the
Company's pilots.

Unlimited code-share.


I'll stay away from rendering an opinion, as evaluating this TA honestly would require a comparison to the current Spirit CBA, which I don't have with me.
 
Yes, the scope language appears to be pretty good, actually. Not perfect, but no scope language ever is.

For what the Spirit pilots were trying to accomplish, this seems to be a clear victory. Management accomplished none of the draconian rules that they were fighting tooth and nail to achieve, and the pilots made considerable gains above what was on the table prior to the strike. A job well done, and a clear indication to everyone of what a little unity can accomplish in this profession.
 
You need to post this on the "other sites" where everyone is bashing it.

I had one of the negotiators (with whom I have worked and lived in a crash pad through two employers) on my jumpseat and he truly felt that the team had ate their lunch. He also was confident that by giving up the 150% on picking up open time, that it would be back by Labor Day when they could not staff.

I got a call today for a trip--you would not believe what they offered me. But I have my FFDO requal tomorrow. So, I am off to sleep after posting this.

My wife is an expert on insurance because that is what she does for her job. People are complaining about the immediate increase in insurance rates (mine is 44% from $155/mo to $221/mo for employee plus spouse) with a 7% annual cap thereafter. This is for an open access, no referral PPO. First of all, we used to have a 10% annual cap. Second, we have a bunch of Cadillac plans. They are very expensive and we were not paying anywhere (and still won't with this contract) what the real world pays for that kind of coverage. My wife says we should have a wider array of plans that are not just the Cadillac--Bare Bones High Deductible plans. There should be a middle plan that is the same as the Cadillac plan but requires referrals. That would save people a lot of money.

On the 401(k), we get an increase to 9% in year 4. Plus, we get a new addition. Our provider only allows a % contribution which you know is difficult to calculate in our industry. So, for example, I want to contribute the maximum allowed by law. My company matches 8%. But, since I never know what I'm getting I can't adjust my contribution rate with T Rowe Price in time. So, I max out on my $16,500 in Sept and lose out on the 8% for the rest of the year. There is a true up in this contract. That is a big deal!

They will also get medigap coverage for those that want to retire at 62+. It will be at the pilot's expense, but the company will get it for them. That may encourage some to retire--although, our few 60+ people are in great health and are great pilots and will likely continue to fly to 65. It's our 40-50's that have some major health issues!

You are right in that the negotiators got rid of the rules they were trying to propose.

Quite frankly the pay rates are as I expected. The steps are gone. That is HUGE! We kept our QOL. There are a lot of subtle differences in QOL in the contract that make a big difference. They got thrown in during the wee hours of exhaustion--"Oh, can we have X?" "Sure, that's not a big deal."
 
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