What’s next for Spirit employees who lost jobs? See what they’re doing
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The end of Spirit Airlines
The low-cost airline shuts down. Here’s what is happening and what it means.
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A week ago, Fort Lauderdale-based Chrissy Tirbany was six years into her career as a guest service agent for Spirit Airlines.
She is one of the nearly 5,000 Spirit employees in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Dania Beach who lost their jobs Saturday when the Broward-based carrier shut down. On Tuesday, Tirbany was at CareerSource Broward’s Hollywood office to look for a new one.
Originally from Trinidad, Tirbany lives in Fort Lauderdale and is a single parent with a 12-year-old daughter. Now, she’s confronting the sudden shock of unemployment. As a guest service agent, her duties included helping rebook Spirit travelers who missed flights.
On Saturday, she learned that Spirit was shutting down right before she was scheduled to work.
“My phone was just going off,” Tirbany said. “I’m the breadwinner for my home.”
CareerSource Broward helps South Florida people find work, and it quickly mobilized since Monday to help former Spirit employees. The workforce support organization hosted a small career fair and introduced job seekers to resources, like the system for requesting and receiving unemployment income in Florida.
READ MORE: What Spirit’s Florida workers should know if they seek unemployment benefits
CareerSource was mentioned in a group chat with Tirbany and her former coworkers, who she referred to as “family.” She decided to visit the Hollywood office in solidarity with her former colleagues, just as she did when she attended the group’s Monday rally and vigil at Spirit’s Dania Beach headquarters.
“It’s all about being nimble and being able to help people,” said Carol Hylton, the president and CEO of CareerSource Broward.
The organization’s Hollywood office has stayed open beyond the usual hours to help former Spirit Airlines employees find jobs and apply for unemployment benefits, Hylton said.
She estimates that nearly 200 former Spirit employees came to the office for help on Monday, and another 200 stopped by Tuesday.
Former Spirit Airlines employee Fred Bastien went to CareerSource on Tuesday to look for new professional opportunities.
Bastien, 26, was a ramp agent for Spirit and helped load and unload luggage on Spirit planes at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The Fort Lauderdale man is studying at Broward College to become a maintenance technician, and says he got interested in that career through his time at Spirit.
But the end of his career at Spirit wasn’t a good one.
“I was at work that night and [Spirit] sent us an email saying what we heard on the news is false,” he said. “I clocked out at 1 a.m. At 2 a.m. I got a call saying operations ceased. I was flabbergasted.”
Bastien is unhappy that Spirit didn’t honor a union contract to which it agreed.
“What they’re saying is we may not even get severance,” he said. “That’s what our union is fighting for.”
The Broward job training site was just one way former Spirit employees are looking for new work.
The last 24 hours have also been busy for Cooper City marketing director Tiffany Price, who helps lead. South Florida job fairs and a local job portal. She estimates that nearly 20 former Spirit employees have called her to learn about job openings.
“I’ve had a bunch of people reach out, and I let them know that we have a bunch of jobs that are local from employers that were at job fair last week,” she said.
Price estimates that 1,500 job seekers were at last Thursday’s job fair in Sunrise. All of the jobs offered at the fair are based in Miami, Broward or Palm Beach County.
Price’s next South Florida job fair will be on June 25 at Sunrise’s Amerant Arena.
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