Originally Posted by
FXLAX
I made no judgements on what rates to use. I was simply trying to make the point that it doesn't matter that we can upgrade at 5 years and UPS cannot. Rates are rates and they should be industry standard at the very least regardless of how many pilot would be at the 5 year captain pay rate. We don't choose the fleet nor can control pilot age/retirement demographics which are the driving factors in upgrade time.
But if I was going to make the case, it would be that our previous contracts banded all of our WBs to everyone else's top paying aircraft. That's why our WB pay rate has been about the same as everyone else's 777 even though those other airlines had lower pay rates for their 767s and A300. So why does management get to make the convinient argument that it should be different now? In reality, we've had three pay rates: WB + BKO (777,MD11), WB (767,A300), & NB (757,737). If there was going to be a change (other than maybe a single blended rate ala IPA), it would be to band the 757 to our WB rate just like industry standard, WB rate meaning everyone else's top paying aircraft, just as in the past.
Industry standard also includes profit sharing of 10% pre-tax up to $2.5B and 20% pre-tax above $2.5B, and cash over cash, and 8 holiday pay days, and retro of 4/4/14/first pay raise, and snap up provisions, and training pay of 5 hours a day, and full B fund contributions during LTD, and no cap on LTD, and no offsets on LTD, and 1:3.5 duty rig, and hotels during CQ and sub, and scope that protects extraterritorial flying and belly freight assurances. That doesn't include reserve rules and I can keep going on other items as well. How much far behind do we have to get before you stop using the PBS excuse? The fact we are line bidding is one of about three things we may be ahead on.
Look at pay rate history. In 2000, the big pax carriers had huge contracts that dwarfed ours. UAL, for example, had their 777 captains getting $316 per hour in 2004. DAL's 777 rate was $320. How long did it take for us to get to that level? After all the bankruptcies, we became the lead by default. So no, our WB were not always tied to others 777 rates. Between the bankruptcies and 2016, UPS and us were the leaders. For example, DAL top 777 rate in 2006 was $186 while our MD11 rate, soon to be our 777 rate, was $225.
Now, just to clarify BKO, you do know that BKO isn't limited to the 777 and MD11. We have 767 trips that get BKO. There is nothing in the contract that limits BKO to any specific aircraft.
Which of these legacy airlines currently have B funds? I thought that their full retirement plan was a DC plan. And you might want to check how they determine the amount to contribute to that DC plan. With our A plan, you get funded while in LTD. If you hit your high 5 in the first 7 years of work, and then go out on LTD for 20+ years, you still get the full DB (A plan) benefit. The only reason that these plans were ever refered to as A and B plans is because the DB (A) plan was the primary retirement mechanism and the DC (B) plan was a secondary mechanism meant to make up for mandatory retirement before you could collect SS and medicare benefits. That history seems to have gotten lost.