Negotiations: Update Fifteen

Dear Spirit Flight Attendants,

Merger Impact:

With action around the proposed merger with JetBlue beginning to accelerate, contract negotiations also seem to accelerate. Spirit management anticipates hearing the US Department of Justice's decision on the proposed merger by the middle or end of February. Of course, there is a significant distraction because of all the merger-induced work and action; we will see if that impacts negotiations negatively.

Move from Section Proposals to Comprehensive Ones:

At the beginning of last week's bargaining session, management gave us a response proposal on Section 8: Scheduling. It contained enough movement to incentivize us to respond with a comprehensive proposal containing AFA's position on all outstanding items except for specific pay rates (more below). This tactic is sometimes used appropriately to "jumpstart" talks. Management was surprised by this movement and asked for some time to do a similar assessment of their demands, cost out our 'asks,' and respond in kind. They have committed to giving us a comprehensive response proposal at the beginning of our next session, February 13th. That will indicate to us the direction these negotiations will take.  

Costing-Costing-Costing

AFA's financial economist and the company's financial analyst are tabulating the cost of all items already agreed to and every demand still on the table – that includes cost-savings for management's demands for concessions in some areas. Your Negotiating Committee is also our assessment. This is a monumental task for both sides, and to date, cooperation has been good in sharing information, data sets, and financial costing models. It is crucial that both sides agree to the numbers and are on the same page about the method of calculating what every item costs.

Pay Rate Schemes – Complicating

Of course, our ambitious goal is to dramatically increase Spirit Flight Attendants' pay. Many of you look to JetBlue's rate, but which ones? They have two pay schemes (that each Flight Attendant must choose between every six months). One with higher rates that remain constant. Another one with lower rates, but with 150% over 70 hours. How does one compare those pay schemes with Spirit's…150% over 85 hours? It is very complicated, and we want what will work best for Spirit Flight Attendants. As we narrow the items in bargaining using comprehensive proposals, the focus will turn to the actual pay rates in this next bargaining session.  

We will keep you posted on developments after our next bargaining session.

Your AFA Negotiations Committee,

Jason Kachenmeister

Colleen Burns

Rick Santiago

Paula Mastrangelo