Fellow pilots,
Over the past several days, Spirit Airlines has experienced a high level of flight cancellations. The Company has informed us that it believes the primary cause of this problem is lack of volunteers for open time flying and has accused the Association and Sprit pilots of instigating a concerted action to disrupt operations by discouraging pilots from picking up this flying. The Company also notified us that they intend to seek emergency relief in federal court against such activity if it does not cease immediately.
In this situation, there is no question that ALPA and its members are required by the Railway Labor Act to make every reasonable effort to restore and preserve Spirit’s normal operations. This means not banding together to avoid or advocate avoiding open time and taking all steps necessary to assure that pilots who decide to pick up open time are not harassed or discouraged from doing so. Simply put, pilots who want to pick up open time should do so and not be questioned because, under the present circumstances, performing such flying is in all of our interest and supports our long-term objective of substantially improving pay and working conditions for the members.
The MEC wants no misunderstanding on this matter—we mean what we say and are not sending any “coded” or hidden messages. To be clear: if Spirit’s operations continue to deteriorate and are not restored quickly we will be subject to litigation, which will undermine our bargaining efforts and delay our timeline. In addition, officers and members will be exposed to potential contempt and discipline. The history of such litigation at places like American, United, Delta, and Comair is decidedly negative, involving hostage- taking, including terminations, damages against the Union, and significant delays in negotiations. None of this is in the interest of any member, your MEC, or the Association. We ask you to do everything possible to restore Spirit’s operations so we can refocus on securing a fair agreement as quickly as possible.
In Unity,

 

Sued for not working overtime? What a country.

 

Take off the names and contact info please. Seriously, you don't think our guys are busy enough?

 

We all got this yesterday. What was the point of posting it 27hrs later?

 

Ok, thanks Jyuri.

 

I'm not Jyri. I spoke to several union reps and this is something that they were adamant about. There is precedent for this!
Knock it off with the internet macho nonsense! Call your rep and ask if this is a real thing. I did and I listened more than I talked. Every rep knows what the ALPA lawyers said in the briefing and all members of the MEC are in agreement that this will not be good for our group.
We all know that the company allowed this to happen. Did you talk to scheduling over the last few days? They didn't sound at all concerned about the state of affairs. Why?

Bendo et al allowed this to happen and now, going into a severely understaffed summer, they have a "dog that ate their homework". I know it sucks and guys are frustrated, but cooler heads need to prevail.

 

You don't need to ask the internet permission, just pick up if that's what you want to do.

 

Everyone knows management did this on purpose.
No green days and an uncoverable amount of open time.
Accusing pilots of not bailing out the company.

 

If you haven't yet realized that you live in a fascist country, maybe this is your wake up call. Once you peel back the "freedom" facade, it's all a scam.

 

...and therein lies the irony. The %#tards that advocate this work action are playing into the company's hands. THEY are the ones who are delaying getting a new CBA, which is EXACTLY what the company wants.

But hell, if it makes you feel like you're sticking it to the man, go right ahead.

Excuse my strong language, but two things that really $% me off are lies and stupidity, and it's present in spades here.