Sat, May 13, 2017
Parties Working To Restore The Status Quo While Negotiations Continue
Spirit Airlines has reached an agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) to extend indefinitely the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the U.S. District Court (Southern District of Florida), directing the pilots to restore the status quo while the company and union remain in mediated contract negotiations. The TRO will remain in effect until a collective bargaining agreement is signed and ratified or, if applicable, the parties are released from mediation by the National Mediation Board.
Spirit pilots have been urged to resume picking up open flying time. The extended TRO replaces the need for Spirit to seek a Preliminary Injunction (PI) in federal court.
“On behalf of our customers and fellow Spirit team members, we really appreciate the effort of our pilots who are taking on open flying to restore the operation,” said John Bendoraitis, Spirit Airlines’ Chief Operating Officer.
The federal court granted the company's TRO motions after Spirit detailed how ALPA and the other named defendants are purposely and unlawfully disrupting the airline's operations, leading to hundreds of canceled flights, which has negatively impacted thousands of Spirit customers' travel plans. A federal court hearing is scheduled for May 15.
In a statement released by ALPA after the TRO was first imposed, the union said: “Spirit pilots are committed to helping impacted passengers and the company restore normal operations. Spirit pilots were instrumental in returning operations to normal in 2015 and several times since then by going above and beyond their schedules, and waiving contractual restrictions in order to accept more flying. The court has spoken and Spirit pilots will fully comply with the order handed down, which is completely in line with our overriding goal: the resumption of normal operations. We call on the company to join forces with ALPA and the Spirit pilots to do just that.”
(Source: Spirit Airlines news release)
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