For real. I’m low seniority, but I took $120K paycut to come here for first year pay, and I’m still fine. Seniority is seniority, and I get it. I don’t want concessions either, but let’s all keep a realistic attitude here.

 

Junior guy here. No concessions! If it means Im furloughed so be it. Ill still have a great place to come back to. In the meantime there are plenty of opportunities for those who look for it. Time to find new cheese.

 

I'm a Captain and nowhere in danger of having my job lost or even downgraded. So, I'm not asking you to do anything for me. However, having been furloughed I do realize what our junior pilots, the guys and gals sitting beside me, are looking at. We currently have LOA's and MOU's in place covering pilots infected with C19, LCR callout, and VIL's. Nowhere have I advocated a change to our CBA. But I am open to another MOU/LOA that for a given period of time (6 months, 9 months, etc) cuts my guarantee (let's say 61 hours for arguments sake) with the caveat that no one is furloughed. There's an expiration date to such and a clause that if one pilot is involuntarily furloughed then that LOA/MOU is terminated.

Spirit has $1.7 billion in liquid assets with a current daily cash burn rate of $1.5 million and a coming option of another $700 million in government loans. I'm not willing to do anything for the company but I'll damn sure make a small change to keep a fellow aviator from making a major one. You obviously don't care and that's your right. Be sure and share your vacation plans and pics of the new boat with your FO next time right after he/she gets their furlough notice. Don't forget to mention your seniority too.

 

Listen J.O., you don’t know me. I don’t have a boat, a big house or any fancy cars, so I don’t have pictures to share of what I have. I live very modestly because like I said, I have lived through numerous downturns in this industry. I’ve been furloughed, been through a bankruptcy, worked crap jobs for pennies. Many of us have faced struggles and now we have a limited time horizon to be selfish as you like to call it to make some money before retirement. Getting furloughed at the beginning of your career when you are in your 20’s 30’s or early 40’s gives you several decades to still recover. Excuse me for invoking seniority in a seniority based occupation.
In your original post, you advocated for concessions. Don’t try and change the narrative. Also, Spirit isn’t a charity, just because they have $1.7 billion and access to more liquidity, doesn’t mean they have it there for you.

 

The implication that some of us don’t want to take cuts because we don’t care about those junior to us is just bogus, imho. Mtnbikemike has his reasons, me personally, I don’t trust this ****ing company or management group to ever honor a ‘temporary’ cut of any kind. You’ve been here longer than me, and I’m surprised you do....

 

Have you not learned anything from our last contact??? STOP NEGOTIATING ON A PUBLIC FORUM!!!!

 

thank you! Apparently we didn’t learn last time!

 

What happened last time?

 

How about no negotiating ever. Our contract isn’t up for negotiations and Spirit isn’t going bankrupt in the near future. Voluntary VILs and that’s it. I’m not giving up ANYTHING! Not pay, not guarantee, not work rules. Nothing!

Been furloughed and earned that merit badge already. It sucks but concessions don’t save jobs. We don’t know what Covid looks like a week from now or a month from now. We went from zero flying to flying 75% in July, to pulling back in August. We have no idea where this goes. Taking any kind of action on our part would be foolish. Let BLM or protests grab headlines and Covid fall from the headlines and people will buy tickets again. I’m not saying we’re going back to last years numbers but we need to take a step back and let things happen.

There is no hospital ship or field hospitals being built. Cases rising will only scare for so long. When more and more people know other that have had it and recovered the more they be willing to move about.

Its a bad situation for sure and we will furlough but taking cuts isn’t going to stop that. The massive warn numbers will be a scare tactic. Watch spirit work their spin machine. They are playing this perfectly so far.

 

That could've been phrased much better.