Spirit Hiring
- Thread starter 757Geek
- Start date
BigGuy4U
Well-Known Member
If management had their way, they'd min fuel every single flight, diversions and safety be damned
. Here's a few examples of the disintegrating relationship between Dispatch and management and how things have devolved into pettiness:•Shifts are only sometimes covered for sick calls nowadays. Often, management will wait until a few hours before the shift needs to be covered to put out a request (if at all), leaving the only people legal to cover it asleep. Thus, the shift goes uncovered and the sick Dispatcher's flights are divvied up between everyone else working, furthering workload. For the afternoon, this isn't necessarily too much of an issue, but can be a large headache for the morning Dispatchers, who have almost twice as many flights as the afternoon shifts and have the pleasure of dealing with winter fog events. When this pattern of not covering shifts emerged, people voiced their concerns, which largely fell on deaf ears. One of the managers actually had the temerity to say that we should be blaming our fellow co-workers for using their Sick Time as to why shifts were going uncovered.
•Trades between Dispatchers in FLL and MCO are all but forbidden. The only thing that one could argue regarding this policy is space requirements (as the MCO OCC has less computers), but as long as two Dispatchers agree to a trade it really shouldn't matter where the shift is worked, space permitting, but management can determine what that "space permitting" entails instead of a blanket ban on shift trades between OCCs.
•Two Dispatchers brought in small treadmills to walk on under their desks, due to sitting for 10 hours a day obviously not being good for you. It lasted about a week before management told both of them they couldn't use those in the office due to "distracting" other employees. Keep in mind that the treadmills were nearly silent and many non-Operations employees in the building next to us use these same kinds of treadmills at their own desks.
•There was no holiday food brought for Thanksgiving. We had our Thanksgiving meal the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but the company themselves did not even pay for it; it was paid for by one of our sponsors (an aviation parts sourcing company). This is less Dispatch-related specifically but another observation in the ongoing deterioration of the relationship between employer and employees. People who will work on Christmas are now not expecting a company paid lunch/dinner.
And these are just off the top of my head. All of these are difficult to explain without coming to the conclusion that management simply doesn't care about employees generally and hates the Dispatch work group specifically.
gopherdx
Well-Known Member
If management had their way, they'd min fuel every single flight, diversions and safety be damned
•Shifts are only sometimes covered for sick calls nowadays. Often, management will wait until a few hours before the shift needs to be covered to put out a request (if at all), leaving the only people legal to cover it asleep. Thus, the shift goes uncovered and the sick Dispatcher's flights are divvied up between everyone else working, furthering workload. For the afternoon, this isn't necessarily too much of an issue, but can be a large headache for the morning Dispatchers, who have almost twice as many flights as the afternoon shifts and have the pleasure of dealing with winter fog events. When this pattern of not covering shifts emerged, people voiced their concerns, which largely fell on deaf ears. One of the managers actually had the temerity to say that we should be blaming our fellow co-workers for using their Sick Time as to why shifts were going uncovered.
•Trades between Dispatchers in FLL and MCO are all but forbidden. The only thing that one could argue regarding this policy is space requirements (as the MCO OCC has less computers), but as long as two Dispatchers agree to a trade it really shouldn't matter where the shift is worked, space permitting, but management can determine what that "space permitting" entails instead of a blanket ban on shift trades between OCCs.
•Two Dispatchers brought in small treadmills to walk on under their desks, due to sitting for 10 hours a day obviously not being good for you. It lasted about a week before management told both of them they couldn't use those in the office due to "distracting" other employees. Keep in mind that the treadmills were nearly silent and many non-Operations employees in the building next to us use these same kinds of treadmills at their own desks.
•There was no holiday food brought for Thanksgiving. We had our Thanksgiving meal the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but the company themselves did not even pay for it; it was paid for by one of our sponsors (an aviation parts sourcing company). This is less Dispatch-related specifically but another observation in the ongoing deterioration of the relationship between employer and employees. People who will work on Christmas are now not expecting a company paid lunch/dinner.
And these are just off the top of my head. All of these are difficult to explain without coming to the conclusion that management simply doesn't care about employees generally and hates the Dispatch work group specifically.
Insane. Is the union active with any of this?
So management would be like schedule and safety be damned. If we destroy todays schedule due to every plane diverting and a billion ASAPS are filed no sleep lost for us.
Even worse image if they did what happened to another user on here. I can’t find it right now but the story went that a plane had a sketchy looking flap fix by maintenance after the crew wrote it up and the dispatcher and pilot either they didn’t wanna go or something and management passed the flight onto a new dispatcher who said they could go. The pilots ended up flying the plane with jammed flaps to their destination in icing. The FAA found out after an ASAP and gave management the slap of god about dispatcher shopping. I think someone on here posted the story already.
BigGuy4U
Well-Known Member
They are busy just trying to get the contract through. They have filed many grievances already even before the events I described transpired.
Boydsj
Well-Known Member
Good to know. Thanks.
There is at least one reason to LUV Spirit Airlines... see ~37sec.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
I'll play devil's advocate here for a second and just say maybe there needs to be a little self reflection. Making inflammatory posts on an internet forum that will inevitably get back to management isn't going to help that relationship. Your union is currently trying to negotiate a (well deserved) new contract for you, and you've come on here and potentially planted a giant F-U to them and their efforts to get you that pay raise. Dispatchers making loud, obnoxious comments towards management because they are unhappy is unprofessional and only drives the wedge between the two groups further. You've aired that dirty laundry to the world now, and it only reflects poorly on the dispatchers who think it is ok to act like children in what is supposed to be a professional setting. It takes two to tango, and these posts you've made don't make it sound like the dispatch group wants to dance. I find it interesting you can only come on here and tell us the negatives, but mention nothing the dispatchers or union has done to try and turn the ship around and foster something positive.If management had their way, they'd min fuel every single flight, diversions and safety be damned
•Shifts are only sometimes covered for sick calls nowadays. Often, management will wait until a few hours before the shift needs to be covered to put out a request (if at all), leaving the only people legal to cover it asleep. Thus, the shift goes uncovered and the sick Dispatcher's flights are divvied up between everyone else working, furthering workload. For the afternoon, this isn't necessarily too much of an issue, but can be a large headache for the morning Dispatchers, who have almost twice as many flights as the afternoon shifts and have the pleasure of dealing with winter fog events. When this pattern of not covering shifts emerged, people voiced their concerns, which largely fell on deaf ears. One of the managers actually had the temerity to say that we should be blaming our fellow co-workers for using their Sick Time as to why shifts were going uncovered.
•Trades between Dispatchers in FLL and MCO are all but forbidden. The only thing that one could argue regarding this policy is space requirements (as the MCO OCC has less computers), but as long as two Dispatchers agree to a trade it really shouldn't matter where the shift is worked, space permitting, but management can determine what that "space permitting" entails instead of a blanket ban on shift trades between OCCs.
•Two Dispatchers brought in small treadmills to walk on under their desks, due to sitting for 10 hours a day obviously not being good for you. It lasted about a week before management told both of them they couldn't use those in the office due to "distracting" other employees. Keep in mind that the treadmills were nearly silent and many non-Operations employees in the building next to us use these same kinds of treadmills at their own desks.
•There was no holiday food brought for Thanksgiving. We had our Thanksgiving meal the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but the company themselves did not even pay for it; it was paid for by one of our sponsors (an aviation parts sourcing company). This is less Dispatch-related specifically but another observation in the ongoing deterioration of the relationship between employer and employees. People who will work on Christmas are now not expecting a company paid lunch/dinner.
And these are just off the top of my head. All of these are difficult to explain without coming to the conclusion that management simply doesn't care about employees generally and hates the Dispatch work group specifically.
Finally, the bit about Thanksgiving dinner comes off, in my own opinion, as petty and entitled. Companies provide that as a token of their appreciation, but it is not a requirement and is discretionary spending. When the airline receives a mandate from the tippity-top to cut discretionary spending because the airline is broke, unfortunately, that means this sort of thing goes away. I think the fact that they went out and were able to find a sponsor and still make it happen says a lot, and instead of complaining that a lunch/dinner was provided at all, be thankful they were able to secure a sponsor and still provide it when they almost couldn't. By the way, where was the union in all of this? They do after all take your dues from your check, right? They couldn't step up to support their members during the holidays?
Here's a quote from Henry Ford for you to chew on, "Don't find fault, find a remedy; Anybody can complain".
I just don’t care for Florida and all of the bs there.
Is that ok? Just a west coast guy. Not a fan of the east coast. Florida is fun to visit. Definitely could not ever live there.
OttoPilot13
Well-Known Member
Its an anonymous forum. We aren't stating our name for the record in public. Management should see this. If morale and working conditions are poor it warrants discussion. We shouldn't be complacent when improvements could be made, especially when most if not all other employers are offering the equivalent or better for their hard working employees it should be addressed. We are free to state our opinion and voice our concerns.
Don’t take it personally. If you are happy there, that’s great.
gopherdx
Well-Known Member
We get it my guy lol
Justanotherdispatcher
Well-Known Member
The union has, and continues to file grievances for the multitude of different contract violations taking place. There is seemingly no interest from the company to come to a resolution on many that should be closed with just a simple discussion or payment to the affected dispatcher(s). Instead, they have essentially weaponized the grievance process by dragging out steps 1-3. There are currently over 30 pending grievances. I’d like to mention that, this is clearly not going on anywhere else. At any other airline, simple grievances are resolved in a very short time frame because it is not worth pissing off a work group that is less than 1% of your workforce that are directly responsible for more than 30% of the company’s cost (fuel).
So it isn’t as simple as, “is the union doing anything?” There just isn’t a level of respect and value for the position present.
Members of management have blatantly said dispatch is just a glorified position. They’ve also gone as far as contacting other airline’s hiring staff to try and sabotage people’s chances of getting hired.
jetsguy737
Well-Known Member
once the judge makes his decision im sure things will roll a little smoother. problem is its just a waiting game now. tbd..
BigGuy4U
Well-Known Member
If I wanted to truly be petty and unprofessional I would be calling out the specific managers by name on this public forum and let the aviation world know how poorly they treat/what little they think of their underlings. But I'm not into that "cancel culture" garbage so I'm not going to do that. While these opinions are my own and I certainly don't pretend to speak for every Spirit Dispatcher, I don't think my posts are inflammatory at all, they are simply the truth of what I have observed during my time here and I think other aviation employees or prospective employees should know of the general treatment here, at least for our particular department.
As I and others have pointed out, the relationship is so deteriorated between the Dispatch work group and management that I am only stating the prevailing consensus of most dispatchers here (as I write this, we lost yet another dispatcher to a major and he cited the reason for his decision being simply that we are not paid enough to live in Florida). The union has offered olive branch after olive branch to compromise and management has stood behind the inherent snail's pace of the legal system in response, dragging out anything and everything regarding grievances to a crawl and doing the bare minimum line-toeing they can to not be outright illegal with our treatment. That simply tells me they have no interest in compromise or respect, just ignoring us for as long as legally possible. It is also not just Dispatch that is getting the runaround either -- the Maintenance Controllers and Mechanics have also been getting stonewalled for their own contract, so much so that their own union recently filed a motion for third party mediation. There is no good faith that management has shown us, barring a few small concessions from some managers who are sympathetic, but again they do not make the final decisions.
If you want positivity, I can attest that our schedule is one of the best in the industry and management is more than willing to allow trades (as long as they aren't between OCCs) so that you can have any schedule you want. There are quite a few Dispatchers who work opposite sides of the week who have agreed to work 7-on, 7-off or 8-on, 8-off schedules and management, to their credit, is more than willing to accommodate it so long as the shifts are covered. Therefore, is it not reasonable to expect the same respect when Sick Calls go uncovered seemingly on purpose, especially when there are Dispatchers at home absolutely willing to work the OT? One would hope, but here we are.
And you are correct in saying we shouldn't necessarily expect holiday meals, but they are so ubiquitous in the industry that they've become expected out of mere convention. So obviously when employees don't get them after receiving them for years, there's going to be disappointment and frustration. I know I personally would forgo holiday meals if the company would bolster our pay to industry standard in lieu of it, but they seemingly refuse to do that out of pettiness.
And I do admire that quote from Ford and would hope most reasonable people would follow it. However, I do find it ironic and hypocritical that it came from the man who hired union-busting mercenaries to physically beat his own employees for striking for better pay and working conditions to say that. He's not wrong, but he should've followed his own advice (technically, I guess he did since violence and coercion counts as a "remedy" if the striking problem goes away
). Words and actions are two different things and many in Spirit's management team seemingly don't want anything to do with Dispatch and see us as an obstacle to the operation and not an important part of it. I pray I'm wrong and they surprise us at the next union meeting, for that would be the only way to mend a very demoralized work force.
Last edited:
ijustworkhere
Well-Known Member
Genuine question…would it be possible for all of spirit dispatchers to strike? I thought about living in Florida, but management sounds like hell.If I wanted to truly be petty and unprofessional I would be calling out the specific managers by name on this public forum and let the aviation world know how poorly they treat/what little they think of their underlings. But I'm not into that "cancel culture" garbage so I'm not going to do that. While these opinions are my own and I certainly don't pretend to speak for every Spirit Dispatcher, I don't think my posts are inflammatory at all, they are simply the truth of what I have observed during my time here and I think other aviation employees or prospective employees should know of the general treatment here, at least for our particular department.
As I and others have pointed out, the relationship is so deteriorated between the Dispatch work group and management that I am only stating the prevailing consensus of most dispatchers here (as I write this, we lost yet another dispatcher to a major and he cited the reason for his decision being simply that we are not paid enough to live in Florida). The union has offered olive branch after olive branch to compromise and management has stood behind the inherent snail's pace of the legal system in response, dragging out anything and everything regarding grievances to a crawl and doing the bare minimum line-toeing they can to not be outright illegal with our treatment. That simply tells me they have no interest in compromise or respect, just ignoring us for as long as legally possible. It is also not just Dispatch that is getting the runaround either -- the Maintenance Controllers and Mechanics have also been getting stonewalled for their own contract, so much so that their own union recently filed a motion for third party mediation. There is no good faith that management has shown us, barring a few small concessions from some managers who are sympathetic, but again they do not make the final decisions.
If you want positivity, I can attest that our schedule is one of the best in the industry and management is more than willing to allow trades (as long as they aren't between OCCs) so that you can have any schedule you want. There are quite a few Dispatchers who work opposite sides of the week who have agreed to work 7-on, 7-off or 8-on, 8-off schedules and management, to their credit, is more than willing to accommodate it so long as the shifts are covered. Therefore, is it not reasonable to expect the same respect when Sick Calls go uncovered seemingly on purpose, especially when there are Dispatchers at home absolutely willing to work the OT? One would hope, but here we are.
And you are correct in saying we shouldn't necessarily expect holiday meals, but they are so ubiquitous in the industry that they've become expected out of mere convention. So obviously when employees don't get them after receiving them for years, there's going to be disappointment and frustration. I know I personally would forgo holiday meals if the company would bolster our pay to industry standard in lieu of it, but they seemingly refuse to do that out of pettiness.
And I do admire that quote from Ford and would hope most reasonable people would follow it. However, I do find it ironic and hypocritical that it came from the man who hired union-busting mercenaries to physically beat his own employees for striking for better pay and working conditions to say that. He's not wrong, but he should've followed his own advice (technically, I guess he did since violence and coercion counts as a "remedy" if the striking problem goes away
bbmikej
Well-Known Member
It's a long, drawn out process. If you start the process now you might get approved by Christmas 2026.
iono
Well-Known Member
not only that, but it would take a unified dispatch group, and from my experience.. it’s far from that. the bad relationship between union and management isn’t the only problem there. there’s a bit of a divide between the two occ’s. petty drama/rumors/spite can happen in any office, but it seems to be a lot easier when there are two offices 3 hours away from each other. i don’t think they actively hate each other, i think everyone is just tired and irritable. they both want a new contract, albeit with some slight differences in priorities or scope. but mom and dad are fighting, and nothing is getting done
