Before the contract the B6 pilots got guaranteed min. 5 percent profit sharing upfront along with all the other employees. The pilots lost this and instead got the 8 percent raise and 5 percent extra added to their 401k money the company contributes (which is now 15 percent, and higher/better than the other groups).

The OTHER employees kept the guaranteed 5 percent profit sharing payout but did not get the higher 401k contributions the pilots got (so they are in effect getting a 5 percent 401k match + a 5 percent 401k contribution through what you call "the cliff" so 15 percent 401k contribution for pilots vs. 10 percent for everyone else).

Also the company used this opportunity to roll the customary and scheduled pay review and raises for the other work groups into this calculation. So for example, the FAs got closer to a 18 percent raise spread out over 2 years (12 percent the first year and 5 percent the 2nd, not 8% like you say) to compensate them for the lower profit sharing formula. The thing is, via company policy they were due for that raise anyways because they had fallen way behind peers and would of gotten it anyway. The company though saw a opportunity to use the raise they were already due, to claim they were doing the FAs a favor and giving them the money guaranteed and upfront via the raise and taking away the uncertain and unguaranteed profit sharing.

So it was in the end just a shell game and sugar coated in hopes the other groups would not unionize. It partially did not work and the FAs followed the pilots into Unionization a year later. The rampers/gate agents have so far not, and they truly got cheated out of their regular raise by having to pay for their own raise via a profit sharing claw back concession.

What is Alaska pilot 401k matches and company contribution?

 

Most of us get a 15.5 percent contribution with no matching requirements. Some of the people in the hybrid pension/DC plan get less.

 

You're conflating profit sharing and retirement, and that is exactly what management hopes you'll do.

JB pilots have a 401k contribution that is on the low end of industry standard. In other words, it should be higher.

Other employees at JB have a decent 401k system for office workers and manual laborers nationwide (albeit less than many of their counterparts at other major airlines), aside from the conflation of profit sharing and retirement.

"The cliff" should not be present in JB pilots' 15% retirement because retirement has nothing to do with profit sharing. If JB management wanted to be honest, they would just rework the formula with the 5% missing from the front end so it doesn't appear to be a bait and switch.

 

Oh no I'm not, but you are right that is what management hopped we'd do. They made a big deal about how FAs got "the best 401k contribution in the industry! (10 percent)" when in fact half that contribution was made up of the FAs own profit sharing and when the true match of only 5 percent was exposed, it was shown to be substandard. They were called out on it, don't worry. Its interesting that the focus has shifted again and instead of trying to hide the retirement plus 5 percent as a 401k match/contribution, the words have changed to emphasize it is profit sharing and thus we actually got "profit sharing" this year.

They can call it whatever they want, but the math does not change and the negotiators know how to add.

 

A lot of people do not realize this is what Delta tried to do to its pilots in TA1. They were going to cut their profit sharing formula to pay for a bigger raise. Luckily they knew how to add as well, and saw they were about to pay for their own raise.

 

Yes.... #1 reason for pilots voting down TA1 at Delta was a halving of the profit sharing formula (which they had already done to the rest of the employees in "exchange" for raises)..... after TA2 left the profit sharing intact, lo and behold they had to resurrect the profit sharing back to match the pilots for all other employees soon after.

 

Added a few important pieces there. I have seen the article praising Delta Management for "giving" that profit sharing to its employees. It should be seen for what it is... Union busting.