Originally Posted by
tomgoodman
Sky,
I will charitably assume that you are not suggesting that they do this, but merely pointing out what might happen. Pensions are legal, agreed-upon obligations incurred for work already performed, just like the price you charge a homebuyer or the fee a doctor charges a patient. Calling either one "extortion" is false, and reflective of "buyer's remorse". Such thinking by airline managements and bankruptcy courts explains, in part, why your aviation dream was snatched away.
I believe that unions extort American companies into business arrangements that make them uncompetitive. Most other industries have abandoned the future burden of retirement funding in favor of self funded plans. If GM were to go out of business tomorrow what would happen to all the UAW retirements? They need to be able to compete in order to survive. We now live in a global market. America is going to have to adjust their wages to match other countries or get out of some markets altogether.
I have never worked for a company that offered a traditional pension plan and if I did would not expect it to be there by the time I reached retirement. I don't expect to get any social security either.
Skyhigh