Bankruptcy Forced Contract Changes
Spirit Flight Attendants,
On Friday, we updated you that the Section 1113(c) process is underway. This is the process by which management is empowered to seek changes to our contract in order to continue restructuring. The reality is that this bankruptcy is not only about a restructuring of the company’s debt, it is about whether the debtors believe Spirit can survive. The sad truth is that one of the things the bankruptcy financiers measure in that assessment is labor costs.
Section 1113 of the bankruptcy code requires negotiations prior to management asking the court to abrogate our contract. If we agree to terms in the negotiations, then AFA members are able to vote on those terms and the company must continue to adhere to the contract. If those terms are not approved by the members and the court approves abrogation of the contract, then management can make the changes as they determine to make them.
For these reasons, it is preferable to try to shape the contract changes in a way that will meet the required cost cuts while minimizing the affect on Flight Attendants. We entered these discussions with four important goals:
Limit the overall cost cuts required by Flight Attendants
Snapbacks so that if the company recovers we do too
Avoid changes to base pay
Avoid changes to our healthcare
We have not yet fully completed these negotiations, but we can confirm we have achieved those four core goals. As soon as the negotiations are finalized we will share additional information about any proposed changes to our contract. We expect this process to move with urgency due to the status of the bankruptcy: labor contracts must be approved by mid-December in order to avoid a filing to ask the court to force changes to our contract.
We know this is extremely difficult and hard to take in. We are being as straight forward as possible because you need the facts. As we said on Friday, we already have 546 Flight Attendants on voluntary furlough and about 1,300 set to be involuntarily furloughed on December 1st. Hundreds of Flight Attendants are back on reserve for the first time in a long time. Flight hours are scarce. We are all feeling the effects of this bankruptcy already and we’re not out of it yet.
Our solidarity is the only way forward. Look out for each other and know your AFA Spirit Leaders along with our entire union are here for you. Our AFA EAP is here for you always.
In solidarity,
Your Spirit AFA MEC
