Since it's been a few months since anything was posted here, I'll bring any curious people up to speed about the current state of affairs at Spirit Airlines, at least from the perspective of one lowly Dispatcher:
1) Morale is at an all-time low. I have only been here a relatively short time but Dispatchers who have been here for years have said they have never seen the relationship between managers and employees so acrimonious in all their years working here. People openly mock the extreme disparity in pay daily, and loudly enough so that management can hear. Management often responds with petty "gotcha" punishments instead of addressing the problems.
2) There are a few people in management who are sympathetic to Dispatch's criticisms and concerns, but they sadly have no power over negotiations. As a result, management's overall response save for a few individuals has run the gamut of outright ignoring us to overt spite.
3) The anti-trust trial against JetBlue just finished with closing remarks yesterday. The judge needs to deliberate before making a decision and that could take weeks. It's honestly a coin-flip at this point whether it goes through or not. We are hopeful that if it does, union negotiations will proceed more quickly, but no one is holding their breath. In addition, both airlines are hurting for money, so even a favorable outcome for B6 will not necessarily imply smooth sailing.
4) There are two more union meetings for the contract this month, but the previous meetings did not go well, with the company citing financial issues as a reason why they cannot afford to give us a raise to industry standard pay. I do not know nor wish to know any further specifics with regards to negotiations and even if I did I would not share them here. Just know that expectations are appropriately LOW for anything getting done before the end of the year.
The overall mood in the office is mocking fatalism, with the only joy begotten from satire at the sheer ridiculousness of our situation. It's a shame, as I really enjoy it here overall as the work group, winter Florida climate and schedule are all excellent, but the fact that management seems to actively hate the department combined with the huge pay disparity in the highest inflation COL area in the nation is difficult to overlook.