Originally Posted by
kronan
For the life of me I can't understand the Angst of this plan will benefit X demographic.
A nameless faceless them.
People who took My Capt Slot away when the Age changed...well, news flash, that nameless faceless demographic is long gone now.
And there's not a proposed plan out there that Won't benefit the top 10, 20, 30% of the crew force. Whichever demographic it is that has your knickers in a twist will benefit from Any Improvement in our A plan. Whether it's a High 5 Earnings Cap improvement, an Extra 1% for YOS over 25, an FDA Calculation.
Doesn't matter what it is, they'll benefit.
The question is how does it Benefit You. It's a Pension, not a Retirement cake with only so many pieces. We don't have to cut pieces of the cake into smaller pieces if someone with 25 YOS continues working.
As to the Newhires being rich in 30 years because their Pay is in the 650-800k range...well, if it's Not that high by then we've Sorely failed in negotiations. If we just stay on the 3% slope, pay should've more than doubled by then.
And personally, as Interest rates return to their norms--I'm thinking Inflation isn't going to be the nice tame relatively stable 1.5'sh% it has been recently...it's going to be closer to 3 during our next S6 negotiations. So, for me, thinking the min pay slope is going to be in the 3.5-4.5% ball park
We all pay dues. As a WB captain, I pay more than most. We’ve spent a ton of OUR dues money chasing a plan that has little very little potential benefit (while incurring major risk) for people in my year group.
So what, just dues money? If I remember correctly, we ran out of money last time we negotiated a contract. We all know it’s a major reason we accepted this contract. So, maybe it’s important that we don’t squander our money?
If people want to switch to a high B plan, I’m ok with that. They can play the market to their hearts content. We should have choices.
One size fits all doesn’t necessarily benefit all of us. Given the choice, I’d keep my current plan rather than switch to the VB plan. The union fell in love with this plan and just can’t accept failure at this point.
There are lots of assumptions. What if the market takes a long term major dip? What if the $275 K limit doesn’t go up, or is lowered? What if pay stagnates and we don’t continue to see 3% raises?
We’ve got a great retirement plan now. We just need to improve it. Flat dollar, profit sharing, increased multiplier (or higher FAE), increased B fund (cash over cap), etc.
I’d push hard for profit sharing. Want the pilots onboard with the new fuel policy? Give them a reason to want to lower costs. If the company does well, so do all of us. It helps all of the pilot force, from young to old.