May 16, 2025

Participants for AMFA
Jason Salazar – Airline Representative
Ernest Harris – Member at Large
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel
Peter Manikowski – Economist

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
Stefanie Mederos – Outside Legal Counsel

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, May 6-8, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale at Company HQ to continue bargaining toward the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the Spirit group. This was our eighth session in mediation with the National Mediation Board.

On Day One, the Company presented a counterproposal on Article 5 – Hours of Service. The Company’s counterproposal aligned, in part, with AMFA’s previous pass on this Article, but areas remained where the Parties were apart. The Parties engaged in productive on and off-the-record discussions to understand each other’s positions and solutions to this Article. The Parties then caucused, and AMFA, upon reconvening, presented a counterproposal on Article 4 – Classifications. The Parties were not aligned on certain Lead Classifications and whether the Senior Maintenance Technician should be a separate Classification or recognized in a different manner. There was, however, prior alignment on the Lead AMT classification. AMFA advised the Company it was holding its counterproposal on Article 11 – Vacancies until the Parties resolved Classifications given the connection between the two articles.

On Day Two, the Company presented a counterproposal on Article 21 – Transportation and Moving Expenses, which the Company had not responded to since June 2023. While there were small areas of additional alignment, the Company’s counterproposal was largely unchanged from its prior pass in 2023. This was disappointing. The Parties did, however, engage in helpful discussion on this Article to find common ground. The Union then presented its counterproposal to Article 5 – Hours of Service, and the Parties were able to further reduce the remaining open items. The Company delivered a counterproposal to Article 4 – Classifications, and following delivery of that counterproposal, the Parties had a lengthy off-the-record discussion to find a way through the open items in that Article. This discussion was productive and helped guide AMFA’s next pass on that topic. Your Committee worked late into the evening on Day 2, formulating an Article 4 – Classification counterproposal to pass to the Company on Day 3.

On Day Three, AMFA presented its counterproposal on Article 4 – Classifications. This proposal reworked language in each Classification to address both Parties’ concerns. In addition, the proposal presented a new manner to preserve the Senior Maintenance Technician designation while including it within the overall Classification of Aircraft Maintenance Technician. The Company then returned a counterproposal on Article 5 – Hours of Service. The Parties were not able to reach a tentative agreement (TA) on this Article, but did make significant progress this session, and AMFA is optimistic the Parties may reach a TA during our next session. The day ended with AMFA presenting a counterproposal on Article 21 – Transportation and Moving Expenses. With this counter, AMFA held on certain items, made movement on others, and tried a different approach to reach common ground.   

The Parties engaged in productive dialogue and worked collaboratively this session. Your Committee was disappointed the Company did not present a counterproposal on Article 6 – Overtime again, but the Company explained it was still interfacing with its IT department to determine whether its systems could accommodate some of AMFA’s proposal regarding administration of overtime equalization. We expect the Company to continue to press its IT department for these answers and be prepared at the next session with a counterproposal on the Overtime article.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for June 24-26, 2025, in Chicago. Thank you to everybody who has reached out to your ALR, Jason Salazar, to offer your strong support for this Committee and receive clarification on certain bargaining issues.

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