continued.....

I said that the D&S Trust fund currently pays all benefits without depleting the assets. The following was taken from Form 5500 information filed with the government. The most recent information I could get is the 2003 annual report, ending 6/30/2003. Total assets were $1.815 Billion. Total payments to beneficiaries were $89.5 million. The 2002 annual report shows total assets of $1.617 Billion and total payments to beneficiaries of $152 million. That’s quite a change from one year to another. BUT, if you were to invest the $1.6 Billion in assets (ALPA figure) at 6%, they will generate $96 million annually. The R&I committee has told me that the plan has paid $90 million in benefits for the last three years. A 6% rate of return covers the expected benefits for the near future.

Even if the company makes no contributions for 3 years, and then begins making $60 million in contributions, the plan remains “viable” for the foreseeable future unless the market crashes. Allowing the asset base to decline by $400 million obviously puts a greater strain on the D&S Trust reducing it’s ability to be “self funding” and puts it at greater “risk”. Of course when you remove the obligation to pay survivor benefits to spouses of current and future active pilots, then the “risk” goes to almost zero, but the benefit level also goes to “zero” as well.

On a side note: Did the MEC include this one-time $400 million savings, in what we sought as “lost concessions”, as part of the $2.1 billion unsecured “claim”?

From the MEC’s “R&I FAQ” document:

In the area of survivorship, we shifted our pre-retirement survivor benefit from an annuity to a life insurance product which not only provides a more secure benefit to our survivors, but is actually a superior benefit due to the tax considerations and adverse pension offsets in the current annuity. In exchange, we substantially reduced our post retirement survivor benefit, though the new benefit will still be industry leading.

Only the individual pilot and their spouse can determine if the Letter 51 TA is a “superior benefit” or not in their specific circumstances. To me, it is a HUGE, UNNECESSARY concession. This was a HORRIBLE decision by the negotiators and the MEC.

Furthermore, the company will be required to spend $60 million (or 4% of “free cash flow”) after 2010, to keep the D&S Trust at the $1.2 billion level. So we have given 3 ½ years of “savings”, and eliminated FOREVER, a wonderful survivor benefit. Yes, we could negotiate the “return” of this benefit in Contract 2010, but I sincerely doubt the company would EVER agree to resuming this benefit again, just like they will NEVER likely agree to return to a Defined Benefit retirement.

The point I want to re-emphasis to Delta pilots AND their spouses, is that
#1 -- the D & S Trust has the money to pay the survivor benefits.
#2 -- the company has NOT contributed to the D &S Trust since 1991. Its benefits have been "self funding" for the past 15 years!
#3 -- the reason the MEC gave up the survivor benefit, potentially worth hundreds of thousands and perhaps over a million dollars to pilot spouses, was to avoid having to make $60 million in concessions in other areas. The company is using that $60 million to pay for current pilot sick-leave benefits.
#4 – you’re trading a survivor annuity benefit for your spouse likely worth several hundred thousand dollars, for a death benefit of $10,000.

Question to Delta pilots and their spouses. Is avoiding 2-3% concessions in other areas, WORTH the financial security your spouse could have enjoyed from the FULLY FUNDED D&S Trust?

To me, the answer is easy. Tell the MEC to “find” the 3 ½ year $60 million annual savings elsewhere. While I have several ideas, it’s up to the union leadership to get back in touch with pilots and provide an acceptable solution.

In closing, here is an excerpt of text from the survivor benefit section of Delta’s Pilots Benefit Handbook, given to pilots in 1991. It highlights the value Delta believed (back then) in providing a lifetime stream of income to surviving spouses. (My emphasis in BOLD).

Survivor Benefits
Introduction

The death of the employee particularly in a family with young children often results in great financial hardship for the surviving family members. The traditional way of providing against this hardship is through insurance which would pay a lump sum at death. This lump sum may provide an inadequate income if an attempt is made to produce a lifetime income, and, if the lump sum is used to provide an adequate level of income, it may quickly be exhausted.

In the event of a pilot’s death, the Pilots Benefit Program provides death benefits which help meet the needs of the surviving family. The basic benefits are a monthly income and a lump sum benefit based upon the number of eligible survivors and the earnings of the pilot.

This section will help you become familiar with the survivor benefits provided for your eligible family members and give you peace of mind that whenever you die, your eligible family members will have real and continuing security through the Pilots Benefit Program.

This section and the Information Concerning Summary Plan Description section make up the Summary Plan Description of the survivor portion of the Delta Pilots Disability and Survivorship Plan. If questions or discrepancies should arise between this summary and the Plan document, the Plan document will govern.

Thanks for taking the time to read and consider this information.



PS – someone “fact checking” asked about the “no funding of the D&S Plan since 1991” statement. I read it somewhere & just can’t find it. This person had a hazy recollection of 1994. Either way, the D&S Trust has been “self funding” for a long time and can continue to pay benefits into the foreseeable future at no cost to Delta.
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So fellow pilots, when you read Question #111, did you realize what option #3 as an answer meant? I hope you will seriously consider choosing “restore the survivorship plan” as your #1 answer.[/COLOR]