The big issues for me are retirement and scheduling with medical protection right up there.
Retirement is critical. Our B Plan in fine. At 6% I always thought that it was sufficient. But with defined benefit programs under an intense assault I'd like to see it beefed up to at least 8%.
And with regard to the A Plan, I'd love to see a 100% cash buyout. Some lower percentage would be better than nothing. But my gut says none of that is going to happen. I don't even think that they'd agree to annuitize some or all of it. They are just fine with us hanging on the word and success of the company. Why are we so concerned about retirement? Well, other than the common sense part of the answer, our beloved management has their own, seperate 'golden parachute' retirement that they are entitled to. And I can assure you that it does not depend on the company's success.
Scheduling is also a biggie. Our schedules are built by computer. The regular lines are reviewed by a scheduling committee that has no teeth. They can declare a pairing as a 'disputed pairing' but almost always someone is still going to fly it. That pairing won't go into a regular line but it will go into open time and be flown by a reserve pilot or one of our resident idiots who thinks he knows more than our union. Since the introduction of the computer program that helps scheduling generate our flying (we call it the sodomizer) the quality of life has taken a severe dump. More hard time, less rest and our bodies are constantly transitting time zones. It plays hell with the circadian cycle.
I wish that I had kept the update that our union sent to us in December. If I remember correctly our beloved management has enjoyed raises that have added up to over 80% in the past few 5 years or so. The regular employees have gotten something like 3%. That doesn't even keep pace with inflation. Our beloved management gets bonuses. Not one regular employee gets a bonus. They took them away 'temporarily' after 9/11. Our beloved management gets stock options. They took away the good deal that we had on stock purchases (not options, purchases) back in the early 90's. They were worried that we were making too much money on them. They get tickets to sporting events that are paid for by the company worth thousands of dollars.
As you can see, I hope, this is an issue of fairness as much as anything else. FedEx is HUGELY profitable. Our beloved management refuses to share any of those profits with the people who bust their collective asses making it happen. I belong to a union. I want that union to negotiate a fair contract on our collective behalf based on the company's profitability.
I love my job. I work for a good company. I do NOT work for nice people. I can hear one of them right now. "Come here, Mom. That's right. Bend over so I can make a few more bucks."