Negotiations: Clearing Up the Air
Dear Spirit Flight Attendants,
To clarify and provide accurate information, we bring the following information forward:
Rumor Correction: The term of the agreement is two years and eight months. Amendable on January 1, 2026. The original full-text TA document incorrectly stated a term of 60 months – even though the dates were correct. An old version of the Duration Section was used when compiling the TA for posting.
First, about the merger: No one can say if the merger will happen. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued to stop the merger – but in the past, the DOJ sued to stop the United-Continental, and American-US Airways mergers, and those both eventually went through. The CEO of Spirit Airlines has said that the merger will continue on track with the same timeline.
What happens if the Tentative Agreement does not pass?
If the Tentative Agreement does not pass, the negotiating committee will attempt to return to the bargaining table.
It is essential to realize that the failed Tentative Agreement is not necessarily the “floor,” - and we will be able to negotiate improvements from there. Management can bring their concessionary demands back to the bargaining table and go backward on some of the Tentative Agreement provisions. There is no guarantee that any negotiated “TA-2” will only have improvements from the original Tentative Agreement.
The committee can survey the membership to understand the reasons behind the “no” vote. In collaboration with the Master Executive Council, they will determine revised demands and attempt to return to the bargaining table.
As merger demands on our management accelerate due to government regulatory requests and operation coordination with jetBlue, they will become increasingly unavailable. This is common and often happens in a merger situation.
If negotiations on a TA-2 do not go well or if it is difficult to even schedule dates with the appropriate management people, then AFA will consider filing for mediation services from the National Mediation Board (NMB). This process furthers the delay but will hopefully bring management to the bargaining table. Mediation also brings an additional person to the schedule, and mediators are notoriously scheduled far in advance.
Management may assume that the merger is imminent and that further negotiations should wait until the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) talks with jetBlue. This attitude is common. Regular contract negotiations were abandoned during the United-Continental merger, the American-US Airways merger, and the AirTran-Southwest merger, and the focus became the JCBA negotiations. The NMB may agree with this approach, in which case they would not be of great assistance.
There is no way to predict what will happen except that it will take time and delay pay increases and improvements. There is no guarantee that TA-2 will be better than our current Tentative Agreement. In fact, there is no guarantee that there will even be a TA-2. We might go straight into JCBA talks.
The reason for the current Tentative Agreements's short duration is strategic and designed to protect Spirit Flight Attendants under both scenarios: Merger or No Merger. If the merger happens, Spirit Flight Attendants will benefit from the immediate and continued pay raises and other contractual improvements until the negotiation of the JCBA. If the merger does not happen, we will be back at the bargaining table very soon to secure additional pay and improvements and not be locked into a 5-year agreement.
In solidarity,
Your Negotiating Committee & MEC
