Spirit Flight Attendants Picket Nationwide For Contract During Busiest Holiday Travel Week

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Spirit Airlines Flight Attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), held informational picketing today and will continue to protest each day through Wednesday at airports across the country as an estimated 24 million passengers take to the skies during the busy Thanksgiving travel week.

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Spirit Flight Attendants continue to back their union negotiators, press management for a fair contract and prepare for a potential strike if management fails to reach an agreement after nearly five years of negotiations.  Last year Spirit Flight Attendants voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming 98.4 percent, making clear the steps they are willing to take to get a contract that reflects their contributions to the profitable, quickly growing airline.  Earlier this year, AFA asked the National Mediation Board for a proffer of arbitration, which could lead to a release to a 30-day cooling-off period and strike deadline. That decision may come at any time.

"Spirit Flight Attendants have tried to work with management to reach an agreement that reflects our role as first responders and our contributions to the great success of our airline. A low cost airline doesn't mean Flight Attendants subsidize profits for executives with health care we can't afford, wages that fail to pay rent or a schedule that doesn't provide us time to care for our families. That must stop. Spirit Flight Attendants are an integral part of our airline and management cannot continue to rake in profits on the backs of frontline workers.  We don't want to strike, but we will if that's what it takes for this management to seriously address the issues and concerns of the frontline faces of Spirit Airlines," said Todd St. Pierre, AFA president at Spirit. 

Airport Picket Lines and Local Times:

Spirit Flight Attendants would utilize AFA's trademarked CHAOS™ tactics in the event of a strike. CHAOS stands for Create Havoc Around Our System™, which includes intermittent strikes called without warning to management or the traveling public.

The Association of Flight Attendants is the world's largest Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for 67 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions.  Nearly 60,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org

SOURCE Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA)