If I thought it was my place to speak to him I would and I thank you for the vote of confidence in my negotiating skills. That said I would gently ask you again what is the primary stumbling block?
You also remember that given their business model they will NEVER be the pay leader so common sense has to take hold somewhere someplace. I'm generally on the side of those who earn a paycheck and if I were on the MEC I'd go after an industry leading profit sharing program! as opposed to higher hourly pay. Ben by your own words has demonstrated he knows how to turn a buck, you just need to get you fair share of it.
The pilots are not asking to be pay leaders. They are asking to be paid on par with their peers at Jetblue and AirTran (which is in negotiations but is stll ahead of Spirit in pay now). They don't want FedEx, Delta or even SWA wages. First they were told by management that they should be on par with JetBlue. Then they got a raise. So then they were told they should be on par with Aliegent. Then they got a raise. Then they were told they should be on par with the regionals. We fly an Airbus into the Andes and we should be paid $30 per hour for an FO and about $54 for a Captain? Go look at the rates on www.airlinepilotcentral.com Everyone makes more than Spirit pilots!
But the pay is just one issue. In order to get to that pay, the company wants to cut our longevity, thus giving everyone a paycut. And they want to create new rules so that, in order to advance, one would have to fly on their days off (which means they will be tired flying into the Andes).
The company stopped negotiating a few years ago, pulled every agreement off the table and slapped down Contract 9000 as a take it or leave it. From there they have refused to negotiate. it's that simple. Contract 9000 called for $30 million in concessions from the pilots.
The primary stumbling block is that the company refused to negotiate. On Thursday, they showed up in Washington, sat down and then promptly stood up and went back to their hotel. One can't negotiate with an empty chair.
Station managers have told us from early on that they were told that management expected more than 50% of the pilots to cross a picket line so the threat of a strike wasn't real (despite a 98% secret ballot authorization). That was a mistake. This is not Taca. This is ALPA.
Then the company thought that they should try to find contract carriers to fly struck work to break the union. Well, there isn't a lot of spare lift out there. On top of that, much of the pilots flying for them are furloughed United, American, etc. pilots. They are not flying struck work. Most refused. One accepted, flew two flights today and pulled out because the rest of the pilots called out sick.
So, the company has to either decide to throw away all the money the investors contributed and go out of business, or it has to sit down and negotiate in good faith. The option of busting the union won't work. Someone has to move beyond their ego and let it go for the good of the company. Time is short.
The pilots prepared for this for the past year and are resolved. We all saved our money and made plan B--some of out of the industry. The company's only plan was to bust the union.
We love our profession and work hard for our company. We want to continue to do so.
