On June 11, Spirit Airline pilots, members of the Air Line Pilots Association union, went on strike to defeat wage and benefit reductions. On June 16, the union reached a tentative agreement with the airline.
The pilots remained strong for five days on the picket lines while negotiations continued. Other airline unions and UNITE HERE have lent support to the struggle.
Despite having the highest profit margin in the industry and freezing pilot’s wages for the last four years, the airline wants to continue to underpay the pilots. Attacking the pilots in the media, Spirit is falsely portraying their contract proposal as an increase in pay.
Major carriers and Wall Street have won and enforced round after round of large-scale take-backs on airline workers for nearly a decade, using short-term “declining profits” at the beginning of the decade and the need to “restructure” as an excuse. A 2005 strike by Northwestern mechanics was defeated.
Spirit is notorious for mistreating and overworking pilots.
The Spirit pilots are fighting back and taking on the airline bosses at a time of major mergers and greater profits in the industry.
Pilots show power of working class
The power of the working class is evident when workers strike. The example of the Spirit Airlines pilots is an expression of that power when a company is shut down and flight cancellations leave planes sitting at airports around the country. Their example also brings into the light of day the most powerful weapon workers have to fight back against the ongoing anti-union drive led by Wall Street and Washington: withholding our labor.
This is the first strike of a U.S. passenger airline in nearly five years.
On June 14, federal mediators began trying to start negotiations back up, but Spirit pilots have been fighting for a contract for four years. The pilots simply want what every worker seeks—fair wages, a decent pension and health care. The pilots have been negotiating for a contract since July 2006; the current contract was amendable as of January 31, 2007.
Spirit Airlines had the highest profit margin of any U.S. airline last year—$83 million in profits in 2009 alone—yet management wants to force pilots to work more hours and pay higher health coverage costs—in effect cutting their wages. Spirit Airlines is based in Miramar, Fla., and flies primarily through Fort Lauderdale airport to cities up the Eastern Seaboard and to the Caribbean and Central and South America among other locations.
One in five passengers in Fort Lauderdale Airport fly Spirit Airlines—the largest carrier at the airport. More than 16,000 passengers travel on Spirit Airlines each day around the country. Spirit carried 6.1 million passengers last year; it has been profitable for the past three years.
UNITE HERE workers, others build solidarity with strike
Solidarity with the pilots is essential to secure their demands. Other union airport workers, passengers and communities came out to support the 500 pilots on the picket line.
On the eve of the strike more than 200 joined the Spirit pilots to show solidarity. Picketing events took place in Atlantic City, Detroit and New York. Among those on the picket line in Fort Lauderdale were UNITE HERE workers. UNITE HERE workers process food for flights and work at airport concession stands.
“I think the important thing is that the workers wanted to take the lead on this in supporting the pilots. The pilots’ struggle is similar to the concession workers. The excuses of management are the same. We understand their struggle and stand in solidarity with them,” Jay Mehtah, the community and political organizer with UNITE HERE, told PSLweb.org.
“The pilots, flight attendants and concession workers took a hit after 9/11 and companies are using the same excuses after they have long since rebounded. The pilots are correct with their assessment [of their need] to be on par with other carriers,” explained Mehtah.
Orlando Lopez, a tourist industry worker in South Florida, expected to fly back from New Jersey on Sunday evening when his flight was canceled.
Lopez told PSLweb.org that he fully supports the strike and expressed his solidarity to several picketing pilots after having conversations with them in the Atlantic City airport.
“Spirit can lie to its customers and say that if it gives in to the union, the higher cost of labor will lead them to increase their prices. But in the end, its clear that this strike comes down to a battle between the management and the stockholders on one side, and the pilots on the other, over who gets what share of the profits,” said Lopez.
Lopez continued: “The pilots and the other workers at Spirit are the only ones who actually create those profits for the company because they do all the work. They deserve higher wages before a stockholder deserves a fat check for doing nothing.”
Spirit Airlines is indeed lying. The pay increases that management is releasing to the media are based on a 90-hour monthly guarantee of work, rather than 72 hours, which is the legal limit set by federal aviation regulations—preventing pilots from working more than 10 months a year. Spirit claims that they are offering pilots a 30 percent increase over the next five years—but this omits the fact that the pilots have not had any increase in four years.
The possibility existed that other airlines will add flights to weaken the strike against Spirit. Capt. Creed from the ALPA called on all pilots who are represented by the union to not accept added flights on other airlines to accommodate Spirit stating, “[T]hat would be struck work.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind that with your backing, our Spirit members will last one day longer than their management. This website will help you track their every step, see pictures and photos from the latest events, and find out where to join them on the picket line next,” writes Captain Praters on the union’s website. ALPA’s Web site is located at http://www.alpa.org. The site has information as to how local organizations and activists can come out to support the striking pilots on the picket line.
An injury to on is an injury to all! Support the airline pilots!
