Originally Posted by
Nightflyer
The whole VEBA deal is BS.
A lot of guys over 55 got $25,000.
This was supposed to help them with healthcare between age 60 and 65.
Only, with the age change, they didn't have to retire!
So now we had a bunch of guys, that not only got to keep their wide body Captain seats for an extra 5 years, (at my expense) they got a $25,000 bonus that I will never see. (Also at my expense.)
This money comes out of my paycheck, and was also from money that was supposed to be paid to the union for wet leasing (which should have been distributed equally to ALL members, not just the chosen few).
Still think the junior guys shouldn't have quit the union (without agency shop) to force the leadership to treat us as equals?
The last "mini-contract" had nice pay increases for union leadership. They looked after themselves first, we got sloppy seconds.
I asked a union official why we shouldn't take the $25,000 back from anyone who stayed until 65. "That's not in the contract" he said. Well, they should have fixed that in the mini-contract.
Tell me, Tony, why should I pay to fund the $25,000 for the guys who got 5 bonus years of Captain pay because of age 65?
Talk about rubbing salt in the wounds!!!!!
Also, can anyone tell me if I will get my $25,000?
Or I am just SOL because I am junior?
You're confusing VEBAs. A VEBA - Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association - is nothing more than a tax vehicle for providing benefits.
We had 60-year-old pilots facing huge post-retirement health care costs. Until Medicare kicked in at 65, they would have to pay thousands to supplement their health care costs. This was an IMPEDIMENT to retirement. In other words, pilots would rather go to the back seat of the DC-10 than retire, because our health care costs as active pilots are far lower. The pre-medicare VEBA was funded by The Company, but only for the pilots who would reach age 60 during the "life" of that CBA, plus some time to negotiate the next CBA. The understanding was that the next wave of pilots would be addressed during the next CBA.
The money you pay for with 50 cents per credit hour is the other VEBA, the Post-Medicare Retiree Health Plan ("Post-Medicare Plan" or PRP) which everybody gets.
A VEBA is a trust fund. It has tax advantages, but you can't take it back. You can't even change the CBA to take it back. We might find a different way to achieve those objectives in the future, but what's done is done.
You won't find me defending the, as you call it, "mini-contract", but you misunderstand the union leadership pay. The CBA limits what The Company will pay, but it does not set the pay. That is done by the MEC -- the Block Reps we elect - and it is described in the ALPA MEC Policy Manual. So far, that has not changed. The CBA limits changed in the "mini-contract", but the Policy Manual compensation formulas have not.
Yet.
.