Dilbert

http://spiritafa.com/Documents/10171...IKE%20VOTE.pdf

390SetBlue

It's an SEC rule that is there to protect a company in case of a sudden increase/decrease in stock price due to excessive market pressures/volume. Basically if the price of a stock increases or decreases more than 10 percent within any 5 minute period trading of that stock is suspended for a brief time to allow things to cool down. The problem is that AMR is the weakest airline stock in the travel sector therefore it's the target of traders who are trying to short it.


If you're not familiar with shorting it's when a trader borrows stock from a broker and sells it on the market betting the price will fall. When it does the trader repurchases the stock at a lower price and returns the shares to their broker keeping the profit (difference in selling and purchase price). Yes! You can even make money in the market when the market goes down if your on the right side of the trade.

Dilbert

Great explanation. I have heard the term shorting before but now I get it. Thanks allot!

skybolt

How do you "borrow" from a broker? I assume it requires a LARGE line of credit.

Sniper

Not generally. Most on-line 'low fee' brokerages offer this service.

Go here for more details.

BigGuns

So why did the Spirit pilots strike, then vote in the 1st TA given them, that was below industry average? They had the power of self help and didn't rise the bar for the rest of us!

Dilbert

My bar is fully stocked. I get paid when I don't work (ie transition) and I have 4 days off in a row to put the liqueur away.

skybolt

Because the MEC chose to send us back to work BEFORE the TA was ratified, then they (MEC, ALPA lawyers, Negotiating Committee) put on road shows in which they said "if we turn this TA down, we will be in no mans land"

When faced with the possibility of being put out of work for a loonnnnnggggggg time, the pilots chose to take the deal that the entire SPA ALPA apparatus supported strongly. IOW, the pilots never expected to strike and when we managed to get back with minimal losses, 74% were not willing to take the chance again. I assure you that the ratification vote was NOT about the quality of the deal, it was about having a job vs not having a job.

That's the rank and file perspective. We'll have to wait until one of the SPA ALPA apologize-rs signs on for their perspective.

BTW, they will tell you that they did raise the bar, and when you consider that we got $185 a hour for senior Captains at year four or five of the deal, we did get parity in hourly pay. IF you only consider hourly pay, they did at least get us up to the bar. I prefer to judge my contract by my year end W-2 and how many days off I had during that year. By that measure, I'll be about even after year two of the new contract.

TTOCSMCC

Year one was a break even deal for me, and I worked slightly less. If your pay went down with the new contract then you must have been one of the few who had the privilege of junior assignment beyond the limitations of the contract.

BigGuns

I will agree your deal is better now than before... However, ALPA allowed a deal to go though that now hurt the ability to restore my contract. $185 at five years from now for 15th year (only a few CAs) is what my contract pays today for an A321 equal seats at 12th year (all CAs in seat). ALPA needs to start acting like a true union and set an equal standard for all equiptment at all airlines.

In 6months when Delta MEC exchanges openers, what do we say when the company says, "Spirit pilots just signed a deal that will pay $185/hr in five years to fly a 757 equal. Why should we give you more than 1%? ALPA says its good enough for HK why should it not be good enough for you? Oh and BTW Delta DC9 FOs already make more on 6th year pay today than HK FOs will top out in 5 years, so ALPA should give consessions right?"

Thus my problem with ALPA and the Spirit contract!