November 22, 2022

Participants for AMFA
Bret Oestreich – National President
Will Abbott – Region II Director
Jason Salazar – Interim Airline Representative
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel

Participants for Spirit Airlines
Gregg Brown – Vice President, Technical Operations
Jackson Fowler – Corporate Counsel – Labor Relations

The AMFA-Spirit Airlines Negotiating Committee is providing this update to the membership at Spirit Airlines (NK). This is the only official authorized source of negotiating communications by the Committee.

The Parties held a one-day bargaining session on November 17 in Dallas to commence bargaining toward a first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the Spirit group. Prior to this meeting, AMFA proposed a Letter of Agreement (LOA) by e-mail to Spirit Airlines that would have memorialized the status quo in compensation, 401(k) and work rules, created a just cause provision and grievance process, as well as a dues checkoff provision to easier facilitate the payment of dues to support collective bargaining. The purpose of the LOA was to cement current status quo and provide the Parties stability while they bargained toward a complete CBA. AMFA has proposed and agreed upon similar LOAs at other carriers when new groups have elected union representation. Unfortunately, Spirit rejected AMFA’s proposed LOA without offering a counterproposal. Simply put, Spirit said no to a short-term LOA that would have demonstrated its commitment to the hard-working AMTs while a CBA is negotiated.

Once the Company failed to engage with the proposed LOA, AMFA was immediately pivoted and passed multiple articles to be negotiated as part of a full CBA. AMFA proposed the following articles: Preamble, Purpose of Agreement, and Savings Clause. The Parties worked productively throughout the day and were able to tentatively agree upon the three articles passed by AMFA. As the Parties bargain toward a full CBA, they will endeavor to reach tentative agreement on individual articles. When the Parties tentatively agree to an article in this fashion, it is referred to as a “TA,” and TA’d articles are then set aside as the Parties continue with other articles to complete the entire CBA. AMFA passed one additional article, Union Security, prior to conclusion of the session so that Spirit may be able to respond at the outset of the next session.

The next session is scheduled for January 10-12 in Dallas. If you would like to be an observer in future negotiation sessions, please communicate with your ALR. Stay engaged, remain informed, and continue to support the Negotiating Committee as that support increases the Committee’s ability to bargain a CBA your hard work deserves.

Fraternally,

AMFA-NK Negotiating Committee