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Union for Spirit Airlines Pilots Airs Grievances Publicly

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

Aug. 16--The union representing Spirit Airlines' pilots have taken its grievances with the carrier public, saying the discount airline hasn't responded to months of complaints about not being paid properly and a staffing shortage.

Pilots complain about being called in the middle of the night and on their days off to cover flights while the airline had placed other pilots on furlough. Union representatives said since April, about a quarter of the airline's 400 pilots have made payroll complaints.

Spirit said the airline has been working to resolve the problems, which it attributes to its transition to a new fleet of aircraft.

About 180 Spirit pilots are based in the Fort Lauderdale area.

"We have been trying to resolve many of these issues since early in the year," said union spokesman Herbert Law, who said the union decided to go public with its complaints because it was tired of getting "lip service" from company management.

On Friday, the pilots' union issued a statement saying that its leadership had come to a vote of "no confidence" in the Spirit's management. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Sunday, union members said they were not planning on striking but had thought of picketing the airline to draw attention to the staffing and pay problems.

Spirit President and Chief Operating Officer Ben Baldanza said the airline was working to fix the problems some pilots have faced due to what he called the "operational heartburn" of the airline's transformation to an all-Airbus fleet. He said 20 to 25 pilots who were furloughed in May were brought back Aug. 1.

Baldanza said he felt terrible about the problems, but was also "personally disappointed" the union chose to make what he called an internal company matter public.

"I don't think our rank-and-file employees see the problems as egregious as Mr. Law (does)," said Baldanza, who left US Airways to join Spirit in January. "That said, we are absolutely committed to upholding our end of the contract."

Baldanza said Law was currently suspended with pay regarding an investigation. He declined to say what the investigation was about, but Law said the inquiry was because he refused to take a flight that would have put his crew over the legal allotment for flight time.

Spirit's majority shareholder, Oaktree Capital Management, has given the privately-held carrier about $225 million in financing that has been used to order the new planes. It already has 11 of the 35 Airbus that will replace its MD-80s, which are older and less fuel efficient.

The transition means about six weeks of pilot training and 100 hours of flying under Federal Aviation Administration certification guidelines.

That training has affected everything from compensation to work schedules, Baldanza said, and the abnormally large amounts of scheduling meant calling on their crews more than usual, he said.

He said he hopes the problems will end by the end of the month, when the airline will cut back from its busy summer schedule.

Industry consultants and analysts said they weren't too concerned about the public tiff, saying the airline has a good history of labor relations.

"There's no indication of anything major," said consultant Michael Boyd.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Toni Marshall contributed to this report.

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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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