WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Flight Attendants at Spirit Airlines, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), overwhelmingly authorized a strike should management fail to reach an agreement with Flight Attendants.  In a strike vote that concluded today, 98.4 percent of Spirit Flight Attendants voted to authorize a strike, if necessary.

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"Spirit Flight Attendants have been instrumental in the overall success of our airline. We have made innumerable contributions to the airline and if this management is half as dedicated to the success of the airline they will get serious about getting an agreement that recognizes our efforts," said Todd St. Pierre, AFA Spirit President. "If management continues to ignore our critical role as first responders and fails to take part in meaningful negotiations, then it's clear that they have chosen CHAOS™."

In these negotiations, AFA is addressing issues important to Flight Attendants and worked to reach an agreement that would be beneficial to crewmembers and the airline.  Meanwhile, management has presented unreasonable proposals and frequently regressed in bargaining.  Displaying contempt for the negotiating process and the Flight Attendants who are on the front line of Spirit Airlines could lead to the National Mediation Board (NMB) declaring that negotiations are deadlocked. The NMB would then release both parties into a 30-day "cooling off" period which would culminate in a strike deadline.  AFA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS or Create Havoc Around Our System™.  With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight.  The union decides when, where and how to strike without notice to management or passengers.  

"It is time for management to stop playing games and get serious about moving forward on a new, improved contract for Spirit Flight Attendants," added St. Pierre.

Spirit Airlines, based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, flies to over 40 destinations throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

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 over 65 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 at 23 airlines 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, AFL-CIO