March 3, 2025
Participants for AMFA
Earl Clark – Region II Director
Will Abbott – Region II Director
Jason Salazar – Airline Representative
Ernest Harris – Member at Large
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel
Participants for Spirit Airlines
Robert Jones – Vice President, Labor Relations
Barney Whaley – Regional Director Maintenance
Joe Harmon– Sr. Manager, Maintenance
Kimberly Maya – Human Resources
Tabitha Rybacki – Paralegal
The AMFA-Spirit Negotiating Committee (the “Committee”) is providing this update to the Membership at Spirit Airlines (“Spirit”). This is the only official source of negotiating communications by the Committee.
The parties held a three-day bargaining session, February 19-21, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale at Company HQ to continue bargaining toward a first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the Spirit group. This was our sixth session in mediation with the National Mediation Board (“Board”), and it was our first in-person session with our newly assigned Mediator, Michael Donatelli. We are familiar with Mr. Donatelli as he is also assigned to mediated bargaining between AMFA and Sun Country Airlines.
On Day One, the parties spent the beginning of the day discussing the status of the bankruptcy. The Company informed the Committee that its emergence from bankruptcy in the coming months is proceeding as planned. The parties also discussed the previously announced station closures, and the Company advised that six technicians bid for vacancies and three committed to moving locations. The parties then spent time with the Mediator reviewing the status of each article and what counterproposals would be passed by each side during this session.
AMFA presented counterproposals on three articles before lunch on Day 1: Article 8 – Training; Article 9 – Field Service; and Article 20 – Management Rights. With these counterproposals, the parties were close to a tentative agreement (TA) on these three articles. To move the bargaining along at a faster pace, AMFA proposed to hold any economic-related issues within Articles 8 and 9 until economic discussions. In addition, AMFA proposed holding a discussion of Charters to negotiation of Article 2 – Scope. AMFA’s counterproposal on Article 20 – Management Rights mostly aligned with the Company’s previous pass, with a suggestion to hold discussion on certain automation related issues until the parties discuss Article 26 – General and Miscellaneous as AMFA had proposed language to address automation in that article. The Company, following return from lunch, presented counterproposals on Article 5 – Hours of Service and Article 11 – Filling of Vacancies. The parties engaged in lengthy discussion on these articles as they had not been discussed since October 2024. Following this extended discussion, each side caucused for the remainder of the day to prepare counterproposals.
The morning of Day 2 was spent in caucus by both parties finalizing their respective counterproposals. AMFA, again before lunch, presented its counterproposal to Article 11 – Filling of Vacancies. With AMFA’s counter, the parties moved closer on this Article. Both sides engaged in detailed discussion on the remaining issues in Article 11 – Filling of Vacancies, such as the manner with which to fill temporary vacancies, how qualifications may factor into bidding of vacancies, selection process for vacancies in certain classifications, as well as the timing of when an Employee assumes a position following a successful bid and when the new rate of pay applies. To the extent the parties differ on what classifications will exist under the CBA, AMFA proposed deferring discussion on that issue until negotiation related to Article 4 - Classifications.
In the afternoon of Day 2, the Company presented counterproposals to Article 9 – Field Service and Article 8 – Training. The Company’s counterproposal on Article 8 was mostly aligned with AMFA’s last counter and the parties agreed, following review, Article 8 could be TA’d contingent upon agreement to economic issues that remained. The Company’s counterproposal on Article 9 – Field Service brought the parties closer with a few issues remaining, including certain notice to the ALR on Field Service assignments and how long an employee (following exhaustion of the non-mandatory assignment provisions) could be required to remain on a mandatory Field Service assignment. AMFA then returned a counterproposal on Article 11 – Filling of Vacancies, which sought to find middle ground on the remaining open issues, such as how qualifications for various classifications may be considered and the selection process for vacancies in certain classifications.
On the morning of Day 3, the parties confirmed they had reached TA on Article 8 – Training (contingent upon future agreement to economic issues therein). In addition, following a counter from AMFA, the parties reached TA on Article 9 – Field Service (contingent upon future agreement to economics and Charter-related issues therein). A TA was also reached on Article 20 – Management Rights (contingent upon agreement on automation related issues in context of the General & Miscellaneous Article.). The parties then spent considerable time engaged in off the record discussions on Article 5 – Hours of Service and Article 11 – Filling of Vacancies to better understand each other’s interests so as to expedite resolution of these articles at the next session.
The Mediator only had one block of dates available in March, which AMFA accepted. Unfortunately, the Company was unavailable on those dates. Therefore, the next bargaining dates are scheduled for April 15-17 at a location to be determined. The parties reached a tentative agreement on three separate articles during this session, in part, due to AMFA’s suggestion to defer certain issues until a comprehensive economic discussion. We believe this approach will bring the parties to that economic discussion sooner, which will help move the parties to a full TA on your first CBA. We were thankful for the open discussion during this session and implore the Company to continue this approach in the future.
Remember – stay engaged, remain informed, and continue to support the Negotiating Committee as that support increases the ability to bargain a CBA your hard work deserves.
Fraternally,
AMFA-Spirit Negotiating Committee
