Release #: 15.10
April 24, 2015

Sun Country Airlines Pilots Conduct Informational Picket at MSP Airport

Company Pay Proposal Would Put Pilots in Holding Pattern for Another Five Years

MINNEAPOLIS—Sun Country Airlines Pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association Int'l (ALPA), conducted informational picketing Friday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, saying the company's current pay proposal would keep SCA pilot wages near the bottom of the industry for another five years.

Already the nation's lowest-paid scheduled service airline pilots for their aircraft type, management's recent proposal would provide only minimal increases. Sun Country pilots last received a pay rate increase in 2005.  

"Our current pay is 30 percent below the midpoint for our peers. We're seeking a contract that gradually gets us closer to the industry average. The company offer keeps us from realizing that goal throughout the life of a new contract," said Capt. Brian Roseen, chairman of Sun Country's ALPA Master Executive Council.

More than 80 Sun Country pilots marched in shifts outside MSP's Terminal 2, joined by supporters from United, Delta, Alaska, Compass, Endeavor Air, and other ALPA pilot groups.

ALPA and Sun Country have been in negotiations for five years, and in federal mediation since 2012. In February pilots voted 100 percent to authorize ALPA to declare a legal strike if later allowed to do so by the federal government. Before any strike could occur, the National Mediation Board would have to release the pilot group from mediation and the group would have to complete a 30-day cooling off period.

"Under our new ownership Sun Country has been profitable and more than doubled in size. It's time for them to invest in people the same way they've invested in airplanes and facilities," Roseen said. "We want to negotiate. We're 100 percent ready to do everything the law allows to lift ourselves up from the bottom of the industry."

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world's largest pilot union, representing more than 51,000 pilots at 30 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA.

 

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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703/481-4440 or Media@alpa.org

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