Spirit Hiring Again - June 2024

[BigGuy4U]

A union company cannot simply be "unwilling" to negotiate an expired contract. Stalling and tough negotiations yes, but unwilling no.

The union is trying its best for (rumor has it) a two year TA that will bring the Spirit Dispatchers closer to parity in pay with their fellow ULCCs and (perhaps more wishfully) Alaska and JetBlue, which seems to be the best for all involved considering the financial woes of the company as a whole. However, the company has tried to stall for as long as they can. The union negotiation team hasn't said much due to an NDA, but the frequency of the meetings is up (instead of meeting every two to three months, meetings are happening every two to three weeks) and the National Mediator overseeing negotiations seems to be confident that the union and management are close to an agreement.

I don't want to get my hopes up as I have been let down time and time again, but fingers crossed that maybe by the end of summer the Dispatchers here get something to vote on that is at least somewhat in the ballpark of "fair".

 

[TAF_Master]

Exactly - they are negotiating so clearly they are willing to go that far. That doesn’t mean that they are willing to give a meaningful raise that puts them anywhere close to industry peers.

My point is an expired contract is a major dispute under the RLA. A company can stall and delay under the terms of the law so long as actual progress is being made in negotiations however small they may be, but cannot simply deny and be "unwilling" such as a non union airline could do.

 

[BigGuy4U]

My point is an expired contract is a major dispute under the RLA. A company can stall and delay under the terms of the law so long as actual progress is being made in negotiations however small they may be, but cannot simply deny and be "unwilling" such as a non union airline could do.

True, which is why they are reluctantly doing the absolute bare minimum and are only being forced to currently negotiate at a rate that I'm sure they didn't want because the Mediator is making them and they have to at least pretend to be negotiating in good faith per the RLA.