Originally Posted by
UnusualAttitude
Is this their first opportunity to improve Section 28? Is it your opinion that the rest of us should suffer work rule degradation to hurry along a Section 28 improvement for those who are retiring in the near future who haven’t secured any A plan improvements since 1999?
There hasn’t been a major retirement improvement since 1999. I was hired after C2015 and it was a primary objective for me to have the A-Plan leveled up. I wasn’t going to have a new generation say that I didn’t make huge gains in retirement while I was here. So I’m not eager to burn the last couple years of negotiations because Delta has decided to go for QOL. Good for them. I think we’ll have a TA by next spring. That’s four months. If we open other sections of the contract, we’re talking about an actual multi-year investment. If this one is a three year deal, at least we’re getting paid while the next contract is a QOL contract that will be amendable around 2025-26. However, If our current
focused negotiations took 18 months, then how long would opening up a litany of sections take on top our current focused areas take? Three years? Then, once again we arrive at 2025-26 for the next contract. Only this time we missed out on FIVE YEARS of pay since our last increase. That’s not acceptable. I do have a list about a mile long of QOL improvements.
As far as people about to retire, there have been three contracts since 1999. I don’t fully know the history, but was there even a strike vote authorization during that time to improve retirement? If not, then the group was seemingly satisfied. I know there are some vocal guys on here that may argue they really wanted it, but it’s about the group choice ultimately. And the group did not achieve major improvements to retirement. I think we all know that as our own retirement comes, we may not have the timing work out in a way that one last contract is signed right before we walk out the door. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. Unless we get some kind of retirement healthcare, I don’t expect any provisions to cover me after I walk out the door. I would expect most on the verge of retirement feel the same.
TLDR - I would rather get retirement done so I don’t have to think about it for another twenty years at the expense of QOL items during this go round. FYI - I’m a millennial with 20+ years to go.