Pilots strike at Spirit Airlines, flights canceled

al Reuters ^ | 6/12/2010

[markomalley]

Pilots at Spirit Airlines struck the company on Saturday after U.S. mediated contract talks failed to reach an agreement, a small-carrier stalemate that could influence workers at bigger carriers.

The strike at privately held Spirit was the first notable job action at a U.S. passenger airline since Northwest Airlines mechanics walked off the job in 2005.

All Spirit flights for Saturday were canceled.

Spirit's 430 pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which could not bridge differences with management over pay, benefits and scheduling.

Airline unions across the industry are watching the Spirit talks closely as many groups are in active contract negotiations or getting ready to begin talks.

With U.S. airlines on stronger financial footing, unions are eager to recapture pay and benefits lost during the industry's drastic restructuring from 2002-07. Spirit is profitable, helped partly by low labor costs.

Airline strikes, due to the importance of the industry to U.S. commerce, are permitted under federal law only after mediated talks fail to produce an agreement.

[cripplecreek]

Airline unions across the industry are watching the Spirit talks closely as many groups are in active contract negotiations or getting ready to begin talks taking hostages.

[Nip]

I wonder if the union has told their members about its history of closing airline companies?
The union is using Spirit has a test case - just like it does in the auto industry; strike one company and once you win force the other companies to accept the same “deal”.
Spirit is profitable because of its low labor costs - the union is going to correct that ASAP!
Eastern, PanAm, Braniff were all international carriers that I used to fly on decades ago - they are all gone because they became unprofitable. Will Spirit be next?
Any bets/

[MrEdd]

So nobody’s going up on Spirit in the sky?

[cripplecreek]

Mass transit is a wonderful source of power for unions. If they aren’t getting their way they can inflict immediate pain on the people.

[rawhide]

Eastern: “The Wings of Man”

[Dem Guard]

"All Spirit flights for Saturday were canceled."

Well that's the "Spirit", isn't it? ;-)

[wally_bert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9o9IANTEQU

[wally_bert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOr5UbFl4uY

[Alberta's Child]

A friend of mine was traveling in Korea a few years ago and he described his experience with a "strike" among transit workers in Seoul while he was there.

Instead of walking off the job, the transit workers showed up for work every day and did their jobs exactly as they would have done them any other day. The only difference was that the bus drivers and ticket clerks refused to collect any money from the riders.

That gave the union the best of both worlds. They exerted a lot of leverage against the transit authority by cutting off their revenue, and they avoided antagonizing the transit riders. In fact, the transit riders probably wished those workers stayed "on strike" forever!

[cripplecreek]

In this country they’d likely show up for work, wait till people boarded, and collect the money at gunpoint and pocket it.

[nitzy]

that’s good

[TheBattman]

With U.S. airlines on stronger financial footing, unions are eager to

Well - they are not fully immersed in bankruptcy... I guess that IS stronger footing. But still - the market is very fragile. Increased benefits, pensions, and pay cost something. To pay for those, airline travel must become more expensive - when the market is still very brittle.

The real key - "unions are eager to...". We could plug a lot of things in to that phrase. But all we need to do is look at the auto industry to see what unions are eager to do...

[Don Corleone]

You all wanted “Deregulation”. Now live with one of its consequences!

[calex59]

If you really want to get pi**ed at Unions watch some of the old footage of WWII and how some Unions struck Aircraft manufacturing plants. It is enough to really chap your hide, FDR finally sent in troops to force the people back to work. Communist were behind it of course.

[Elle Bee]

you're correct ....... now let's see if Obama will force them back to work under the railway act or he will hang tight with his union homies

.

[N. Theknow]

You all wanted “Deregulation”. Now live with one of its consequences!

One of the worst strikes was Northwest "Orient" Airlines in the late '70's under "regulation."

Being a traveler in Minneapolis, where NWA had nearly 80% of the market, was a nightmare as only 747's were flown by front office retired pilots, after re-certification, between MSP and Chicago ORD when pilots and stew-people went on strike.

And the replacement stew-people were left over from when NWA flew only DC-3's!

Old, ugly and menopausal.

"Good morning sir. Would you like coffee, tea or your nuts crushed?"

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. You’re right.

[KevinDavis]

I prefer it that way... Thank you..

[KevinDavis]

When I was in the UK, there was talk of having the entire rail system on strike...