Spirit MEC Emergency Relief
 

Please contact your status reps and let them know your opinion (displeasure) regarding the emergency relief granted to section 12 & 25 of our contract for the next 5 days. This is critical to the future of our company and negotiations. All in the name of good faith and a "promise" NK management will "not soon forget this." Unbelievable

Ackerman is in upgrade training. I'm sure he is concerned. He should not have supported relief for a self imposed melt down.

Why not just open the floodgates for 200%? Now the company can recover at a discount on our backs.

What's the emergency?

Complete upper management failure...that's the emergency.

Translation: Grab a jet! We'll let ya know when yer done! And... You get straight pay for getting screwed! Kinda like our FA's! So much for the CBA.....

I'm sure there's much more to come. Hooray! Straight 117 is finally here! Your only recourse to avoid discipline is to call in fatigued. I guess Ackerman and his MEC couldn't get the Feds to waive that provision.....

It's gonna be a long slog boys and girls.

How about no more agreements until we have a new contract. Get it done! Especially an agreement where we get NOTHING in return! Everyone working these next 5 days should get 200% at bare minimum....get SOMETHING! Unbelievable......

True that.

Translation # 2:

Mgt: " Our decision to outsource every non contract employee and our failure to plan has created an emergency. Therefore, we need the pilots to bail us out. At a discount! Less Money, More Go, Go,Go!!!!"

So much for getting a new contract on time, or at all.... Why should they? They can just go begging to the MEC and get the goodies, and create emergencies whenever they want.

What exactly does the company have relief from in your contract? How's it being applied? Are you getting 150-200% for all extra work.

It's a little scary knowing that some guys on the MEC with coercion from the company can side-step the contract.

Was this the MEC being recalled or the new one voted in?

These are the new guys. They want to have an "Employer- Employee relationship".

I guess this is our 5 year strike anniversary present.....

A conference call was scheduled for noon today after a call last night in which LEC, MEC and ALPA lawyer AL listened to Bendo's pitch for relief, after a few shots were given to Bendo he was excused from the call. Deliberation were undertaken about compensation and scope of said relief, a call was later planned to firm up what we would give and get which was postponed until noon today at around 11:55 JA sent a letter to the LEC reps informing them he granted the company relief. Totally undermining everything including negotiations.

This catastrophic financially unjust relief won't fix anything either.

Every administrative department is understaffed and overwhelmed. Every employee at most stations have been outsourced ( no accountability, no stake in anything). And the new MEC chairman fell for the oldest trick in the book. I'd suggest anyone who is under 35 get their applications out.....

And to those thinking of working here- beware. Orenstein would be proud. I'm sure the four day off rule and the transition are next. All mgt has to do is say pretty please. With sugar on top.

what in the world are you talking about? What new guys? There was no change to the MEC. Only the chair and vice chair changed. The same 6 voting members remain intact.

Ackerman can't make policy on his own but he sure can influence it.

This what I'm talking about. He did it on his own. And let's not forget who voted him in....

Guys the ink isnt even dry on this agreement lets see how this plays out. Also lets not forget the old guard recently gave away DL for next to nothing, Im in no hurry to have them back.

Um- actually, at least the DL was put out for a pilot vote...

And, compared to this- that's small potatoes. This is massive. Massively Bad. With real impact on your everyday QOL.

Where's the CEO during this?

Disappointed in the MEC.

It also impacts your ability to EARN! Now you can just be inconvenienced for Less Money, More Go!!!

It appears the purse strings have been released. They are not shy about 200% pay to get things back on track. Even though this problem is management induced I am willing to help get things back on track as long as the compensation is there. I think this was a smart play on the new leaderships part to garner some goodwill and make us some extra money.

I agree. Assuming we survive as a company, only the quality of our next TA will determine if this move was right or not. That said, we FAIL if we proceed one day past amendable with these awful pay rates.

Breath! The sky is not falling.

It will be a failure because there will not be an agreement this summer, regardless of Ackerman's penchant for working with the company. Spirit management can not be trusted.
DO NOT trust what they say look instead at their actions. They've chronically understaffed FAs, they have refused meltdown after meltdown to implement a scheduling department that can handle the growth of this company. They continue to battle with the FAs over a contract and gutted ramp and gate agents to save a few sheckles. Why do we think they'll treat us differently because our MEC chairman went rogue? Our work rules did not put Spirit in this mess. It will not get them out of this mess and it won't be rewarded in 6 weeks regardless of what nonsense is being pushed on the weekly podcast

I agree. I'm not happy to hear of the relaxation of our work rules to bail out poor management (and that's what it is...no two ways about it). I am willing to see how it plays out. This is not a function of our work rules; instead it's poor planning, constant outsourcing, running every department as though it's still a 20 plane operation, etc....

But I do know this...my limits/ expectations on what's acceptable on our next TA just got significantly higher.

While I felt it was not a great time (4 months before section 6) for this mec overthrow, I have been trying to give it the benefit of the doubt that perhaps it would work out. Now I'm confident in my suspicions that JA is a spineless politician doing anything he can to advance himself to positions he did not earn has all but been confirmed! His proclaimed resume is riddled with leadership of failure, and now he is making agreements outside of the CBA (as I read here and subject to validation) without a vote from the LEC members on our behalf acting like it is a victory to give relief on two big contract sections with the idea that you can grieve it afterwards for remedy! With 600 million dollars in the bank there should be no loans fiscally, qol at work or away from it. They want help, PAY UP NOW! The implications that there is no future at this airline if they had to shut it down for a day is ludicrous! Didn't JetBlue do this last winter for a few days? I'm on third year pay close to upgrade and unfortunately I'm sad to say for the first time the reality that my future might need to be away from Spirit has hit like a freight train. The sad part is there is no reason that should have to be the case. All the ducks are in a row for the perfect negotiating environment, yet this guy is hand the keys over to our FRIENDS in management. I need to find a beer so when they call I'm unavailable...

You called that one! His audio message just said he's at HDQ answering phones. I'm not saying we should be adversarial with the company, but there needs to be limits for our leadership!

Ackerman is an embarrassment. If he really thinks we will get a return on investment he is extremely naive. Why not just offer 200%?

I want to know which of our status reps voted for this.

Ackerman, get your ass out of SOC and back in the sim or you will be flying chandels and lazy eights soon.

They basically are offering JA for anyone wanting to work. I emailed JS this morning about a day trip tomorrow. It was on my schedule within 10 min with JA pay

And I emailed offering my help and was told to just stay on my originally scheduled trip tomorrow. Since I made myself available, I can only assume I am not suitable for some reason... Or perhaps I just haven't made the right friends in CS.

Anyway, back to my regular schedule.

We are helping an organization that is failing due to it's own lack of investment. The MEC chair or any other pilot manning phones is an embarrasment to this pilot group. FYI for you newbies, this place has a meltdown every summer, we are not shutting the doors. At this point all we are doing is ENABLING business as usual. Reacting vs Proactively acting.

The crazy is extra strong in this thread! I wasn't here pre-strike but don't see how anyone can say this isn't the biggest cluster they've ever seen. While I don't agree in the exact terminology of the MEC email or that it isn't blatantly stating you will get premium pay for any out of schedule flying, I don't see what the hissy fits are about. It plainly states that you have the right to refuse anything outside of your "personal limits" with no chance of discipline. You guys need to put away the tin foil.

You have to call in fatigue to get out of assignment.

It is inappropriate to put that on the pilots and then have to deal with fatigue report and SMS baloney.

My concern is that im running out of tin foil

Hahahahahaha

No, All kidding aside. This is an embarrassment to the pilot group. Waiving Section 25 without a formal premium pay compensation formula is a disgrace. If indeed the airline was ready to shut down it should have been easy. Leaving upgrade training study time to 'work the phones' is unforgivable. What is this clown actually doing? calling random people begging them to fly? or is he calling his friends handing out 200% vouchers?

Now my lighter is dead:eek: