Accuse Carrier Of Forcing Additional Hours On Them
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pilots at Spirit Airlines to the seemingly never-ending list of
dissatisfied and disgruntled airline employees. The Spirit pilots,
represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International, are
crying foul on management at the airline, which they say is forcing
them to fly longer hours internationally over those agreed to in
the contract to make up for staffing shortages, and then not
compensating pilots appropriately.
The pilots accuse the Ft. Lauderdale-based airline of committing
to flying, that it did not staff itself to perform. As a result,
the airline is now attempting to circumvent the pilots' union and
make individual arrangements with pilots to perform flying in
violation of contractual limits. Vacations have been improperly
denied and schedules have been set up which bear no relationship to
the actual flying hours that are required.
Spirit pilots offered a concessionary contract to Spirit in
2003, that the union says was designed to allow Spirit to survive
and grow. At that time, Spirit demanded Caribbean and Latin
American flying be treated as domestic flying, thereby allowing the
company to avoid paying international overrides to pilots
performing such assignments.
To protect pilots from fatigue, the union insisted that in
agreeing with the demands, the company had to follow domestic hours
of service rules, which are more restrictive than international
hours of service rules. This system has worked for more than three
years... but the pilots say that now, in the face of its staffing
shortage, Spirit management insists that it can require pilots
flying into the Caribbean or Latin America to perform additional
flying pursuant to international hours of service rules, but still
deny them the international override.
"This is a case of the company wishing to have its cake and it
eat too," said Captain Matt Nowell, head of Spirit ALPA unit, "but
our pilots are not interested in being played for saps in this
fashion and ALPA will fight this absurd violation in every forum
necessary, seeking full redress for any member affected."
ALPA also claims Spirit Airlines management is also trying to
persuade Spirit pilots -- who claim they already fly more than most
legacy carriers -- to risk fatigue by flying more. The Spirit
pilots' contract contains specific limits on how many times you can
be ordered to fly when you are not scheduled to do so (i.e. junior
manned). The company is trying to persuade pilots to circumvent
these limits and ALPA by offering pay incentives not negotiated
with the union.
"The limits on junior manning -- or forced flying when a pilot
is not scheduled to fly -- were put in the contract to assure
safety and ensure that we don't have fatigued pilots in the
cockpit," said Nowell. "ALPA is instructing its pilots to reject
these obvious bribes and put the safety of our passengers above all
else. We are committed to providing first rate service to the
public. The company needs to address the pilot staffing shortage
instead of resorting to these dangerous machinations."
Spirit pilots have been in contract negotiations with the
company for more than ten months.
"Spirit pilots call on our management to ignore destructive
actions used elsewhere in the industry and focus on running an
honest operation that respects its pilots, their families and our
union," added Nowell. "It's in everyone's best interest, including
our passengers."