Originally Posted by RiddleEagle18
Well you guys may have me here with the percentages. But I think we all agree that the current system is abosolutly worthless. Promises mean nothing. I want money in a bank with no smoke and mirrors. Current pensions are funded with todays profits to pay for guys who retired earlier. And the next generation of pilots after me will have to pay for mine and that just doesnt work. So something needs to be done. Wheter that be pensions in a difeerent form then they are today something needs to be changed.
Of course, we all want control of our pension funds, but you must remember that the 401k plans were not around when the Legacy carriers established their defined benefit plans, and back in those days a promise of a pension was a promise that would not be broken, period! How times change!
We obviously have to try and change the retirement funding so it can't be held in the possession of the airline itself, that doesn't work. The airline pilot generations past gave up pay and other benefits in order to secure their retirement. We need to try and salvage a pension for these guys in some form and then try to find a decent replacement value for company matching beyond the wimpy single-digit company contributions currently in place at the airlines today. Also, this company contribution should not be an employee match deal, but rather a contribution regardless of whether the employee contributes or not.