On August 9th, 2016, Captain Neal Spanier was wrongfully terminated from Envoy Air. After over a decade of employment at Envoy, and after faithfully serving several years as elected Chairman of ALPA LEC Council 83 (DFW), Captain Spanier was individually targeted by the company for his constant and tireless defense of Envoy pilots and our CBA. In what can only be described as a violation of privacy, the company hired a private investigator to follow and take photos of Neal outside of work, during a period he was ill and unable to perform his duties in accordance with common sense and FAA medical regulations for pilots. The company's justification of firing Captain Spanier for running errands with a sinus infection simply doesn't hold water. His termination is no less then a violation of our CBA and two federal laws; the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which prohibits employers from taking action against employees for union activity, and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which guarantees medical leave for employees without threat of retaliation from their employer, which Neal was exercising.

Neal has filed a grievance for his wrongful termination. In a brash move, the company said they were "too busy" to attend an arbitration at the earliest availability of the arbitrator, and instead chose an August date for the hearing, a full year after Neal was fired. Not only is this move clearly designed to hurt Neal and his family personally, but it is also designed to delay his flow to American Airlines, which is projected to be before August of 2017. In addition, the company continues to fight against Neal receiving unemployment benefits under Texas law, and has even appealed their recent loss.

Despite the toll the loss of income has had on Neal and his family, he continues to volunteer as LEC 83 Chairman. He continues to fight for us, and it's time we fought back for him. We as a pilot group can not allow our company to choose our union representation based on fear and intimidation. We can not allow our company to think they can bully a pilot into compliance through his paycheck. For less than a cup of Starbucks every month, the pilots of Envoy have the ability to replace Captain Spanier's paycheck every month to enable him to cover his everyday expenses. This would send a message to our management loudly and clearly that their tactics won't work. The campaign amount is Captain Spanier's pay rate at the 75 hour guarantee every month. Every time we raise this amount, it will be another month Neal can devote his time to fighting for us.

All money raised in this campaign will go directly to CA Neal Spanier for the everyday living expenses of him and his family, minus the fees GoFundMe normally subtracts. This campaign is in no way affiliated or endorsed by ALPA or the Envoy MEC, and was started by an Envoy pilot.