Numbersguy, please don't twist the facts. The early retirement age has never been defined as " 5 years prior the mandatory retirement and penalty equating to 3%/year." Early retirement has always been defined as vested service, age 55 at the earliest and a .25% reductuction for ever month prior to your 60th birthday. That is how it was prior to our contracts and how it is defined in our present contract.

Now do I believe that the "A"plan will survive, simple answer is no. It may survive this contract round and possibly the next, but to think that FedEx pilots will have a define benefit plan 20 years from now is hard to imagine. Should we as a collective group research and consider other options, I would say yes. But your suggestion of just changing the retirement age as a solution to the problem doesn't make sense to me.

I do not share your view that the courts and/or congress are going to go after one employee group or occupation regarding retiree benefits. That appears to be panic to me. Let's look around us, only 2 pilot groups are left with a true define benefit plan that has not been frozen or terminated. That being said I think everyone involved will let all parties involved duke it out in negotiations and not press the courts unless bankruptcy is involved. I don't see bankruptcy in the near future for FedEx. Let's let the R&I people research this and give us some options to consider prior to the next round of negotiations. Let us not act like panicky stock traders worried about the next rumor and more like the trained professionals that we are.