Spirit Airlines Pilots walk out

[Two's in]

Spirit pilots went on strike at 5am Saturday morning cacelling all Spirit flights. This follows a breakdown in 3 years of salary negotiations.

Spirit Airlines pilots declare strike and walk out on negotiations - Broward Breaking News - MiamiHerald.com

No work is to be done for Spirit Airlines," said Paul Hopkins, strike chairman for Spirit's unit of the ALPA, in a strike hotline voicemail to pilots. Instructing pilots to go home, Hopkins added, "We will hold the line. We will prevail." A spokeswoman for Spirit Airlines was unable to be reached for comment.

Picketing is expected to commence daily at Fort Lauderdale airport at between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Spirit walk-out is the first by pilots at a commercial U.S. carrier since 2001 and it's the first strike since Northwest Airlines mechanics walked out in 2005.

[protectthehornet]

good luck to the pilots.

if spirit can afford to replace their DC9's and MD80s with 'buses, they can afford to pay their pilots more.

[Captain Turbo]

Spirit Pilots

Any update on negotiations???

[remoak]

if spirit can afford to replace their DC9's and MD80s with 'buses, they can afford to pay their pilots more.

That is probably the reason why they CAN'T afford to pay them more...

Anyway, good luck lads and ladesses...

[TQ]

Company made over 100 million last year with 28 airplanes.
There are no negotiation meetings planned at this time.
We have excellent support from all pilots at other airlines, FA, gate agents, air traffic controllers. To all : "THANK YOU".

STAY UNITED.

[cactusbusdrvr]

Good luck to you guys. I hope to get a chance to walk your line next week when I am in DTW.

[411A]

For the ALPA pilots at Spirit, the old saying should apply, and PT Barnum said it best....'There is a sucker born every minute.'

PS,
Forgot to mention...everything at Spirit is leased, even the office furniture, so....it would be easy enough to fold the airline and take the past loss-carry-forward, and smile all the way to the bank for the private investors.
ALPO has never been very smart with their 'strike' actions...true to form, now.

[jimmygill]

it would be easy enough to fold the airline and take the past loss-carry-forward, and smile all the way to the bank for the private investors.

If its easy, then thats how it should be. If there is not a deal then parties walk back home.

[DownIn3Green]

First off...I wholeheartedly agree with 411...

Second off...the fact that this thread has been posted here for so long indicates to me that there is not a lot of sympathy for these pilots among the PPrune...only 7 posts so far...

Thirdly...If all of the "support" is out there for your cause, according to the news reports, Spirit is rebooking their customers on other (possibly ALPO?) airlines...Isn't that flying "struck" work??? I guess that means better "you than I", because I've still got a job...

Fourth...Haven't the Spirit pilots learned anything from the CAL 83 and EAL 89 ALPO strikes?...

Shut your Airline down, put most of your friends and colleagues out of work, and support your ALPO brothers and sisters by giving them more business and ergo job security...

Check out the ads here on the Prune...everyone is looking for a job...NOT THROWING ONE AWAY...

[PA38-Pilot]

Good luck to all.

[mic310]

good to see the boys at spirit have some balls

[AKAAB]

Second off...the fact that this thread has been posted here for so long indicates to me that there is not a lot of sympathy for these pilots among the PPRuNe...only 7 posts so far...

What's your point, really? We don't see a lot of posts about European job actions on the US-centric boards, either. You're point is lost. Check out flightinfo.com or airlinepilotcentral.com if you want to see overwhelming support for the Spirit pilots. And, by the way, a lot of that support is coming from non-ALPA pilots.

Thirdly...If all of the "support" is out there for your cause, according to the news reports, Spirit is rebooking their customers on other (possibly ALPO?) airlines...Isn't that flying "struck" work??? I guess that means better "you than I", because I've still got a job...

If the revenue goes to the airline carrying the customers and not to Spirit, then it's not considered flying struck work. Flying flights under Spirit callsigns/flight numbers that puts money in Spirit's coffers would be flying struck work.

Fourth...Haven't the Spirit pilots learned anything from the CAL 83 and EAL 89 ALPO strikes?...

Strategically, they have learned a lot. First, there is no Texas Air or Continental to siphon off resources to in this case. In a war, you don't refuse to go into a skirmish because a previous skirmish ended badly. You study previous battles, analyze them, and learn what worked and what didn't. EAL and CAL ended poorly, but the lessons to be learned include not fearing management's threats, not falling or sham contract offers, and not being afraid to call management on their lies and deceit.

Also, times have changed and we're in the information age. That, in and of itself, is a huge difference between then and now.

Shut your Airline down, put most of your friends and colleagues out of work, and support your ALPO brothers and sisters by giving them more business and ergo job security...

This should have never happened, but Spirit management has chosen to not negotiate in good faith and has repeatedly stalled talks for years. At some point, you have to look into the abyss and stand your ground. They don't want to shut down the company - no striking pilot group does. What they want is equitable pay and compensation for the work they do. They aren't asking for pie-in-the-sky pay, just industry average. They are so far below that now and it's embarrassing to the entire profession.


Stand strong, Spirit pilots. You deserve our respect.

PS - I turned down three calls to come for an interview with EAL during the strike.

[privateer01]

Good luck and best wishes to the Spirit Pilots.

(Yeah I have friends there)

[captjns]

Good luck to the guys and gals at Spirit. Another group who has the balls to stand up to management and request to be treated with the respect they deserve.

If the airline tanks then so be it... at least the spirit pilot group did not sell their souls to the devils as others in the past have. I hope they are looking at the job boards. As Bus drivers are needed in Asia.

[Big Pistons Forever]

You do not get what you deserve you get what you negotiate. If the other side will not negotiate then you do not have alot of options. The Spirit Guys/Gals are at the go big or go home point. I wish them luck.

The bottom line is good pilot compensation is no barrier to profitability or long term sucess. SouthWest has the highest narrow body pilot pay structure of any US airline and is a consistantly profitable airline. The problem is not pilot pay structure it's incompetant mangement with United's Glen T being the poster child for the failure of the MBA mindless culture of short term cost cutting over long term value creation.....

[Sqwak7700]

Good luck guys and girls, you have the support of may pilots in this day and age of corporate greed.

I hope you prevail and bring a little balance back to the employee/employer relationship. It is good to see someone pushing for the top instead of racing to the bottom.

I can't see why any airline pilot would disagree with your chosen course of action so anybody who posts otherwise on this thread is not really a pilot. Just ignore them as spammers and wannabes that have nothing better to do.

[dannyalliga]

Spirit Pilots,

we look at you with respect and wish you success!

A European pilot.

[Junkflyer]

APC shows fo first year pay about $3100/mo. and tops @ 15 year capt. about$ 11,000/mo. flying A-321 currently. Not sure what the recent or future raises are.

[protectthehornet]

I don't think that spirit will shut down. why?

well, the company is offering a hundred dollar credit on future flights for the inconvenienced passengers, plus full refund credit on cancelled flights.

while this may never be used, there might be a slight chance of legitimate concern over long term passenger happiness.

[Shaman]

Good luck, chaps - taking industrial action takes courage.

As a management pilot once said, "if the pilots stick together we are going to lose".