Negotiators' newsletter

Negotiators’ Newsletter 49 

Frontier pilots, 

This week the Negotiating Committee and ALPA staff met with the company in Bradenton, Florida to continue mediated talks under the supervision of Mediator Jack Stephan. The agenda this week was continued discussions on Section 11 Training and Testing and costing of the parties’ proposals.  

The session was scheduled to begin on Tuesday at 1000 and conclude on Thursday at 1700. The company’s training and testing subject matter expert didn’t show up until Tuesday evening, so we did not meet with the company at all on Tuesday, and on Thursday members of the company’s team had scheduled flights as early as 1545 requiring us to conclude talks at 1330. 

On Wednesday morning management presented us with their Section 11 counter, which didn’t move the parties any closer to an agreement. Instead of countering management’s proposal, ALPA proposed a small group discussion and presented them with a comprehensive “supposal” designed to close out the remaining open items. While we can’t get into the specifics of the “supposal”, we believe it provides a pathway to agreement. We will continue to discuss this at the next session in July and will report back to you. 

While we do appreciate the open dialogue we had in small group with management, we are now twenty-three months into bargaining, we have not reached agreement on a single substantive issue, and the company still takes the position that they are unable to TA anything that will result in increased costs. Management knows their economic proposal is garbage, but their focus isn’t providing the Frontier pilots with the industry agreement we have earned; it is to subsidize their ineptitude and mismanagement of the airline on the backs of their pilots.  

As promised in our previous newsletter, we will be providing you with a more in-depth series of communications starting next Monday. The first communication will focus on management’s conduct followed by a second communication later next week that focuses on the company’s comprehensive economic proposal. 

Scientific polling from the University of New Hampshire will begin on July 21 and continue through July 31. The MEC will be sending out a communication with more specifics before polling starts. Thank you for your continued support and throw us a DART if you have any questions.