Airline Pilot Central Forums

pilot141:

Warning: No soundbytes

Per your request, I have created a new thread. You made the following comment on your thread titled, "FDX Guys Opposed to a change to Age 60":

But 6 months after that contract ALPA is now telling us that a change to Age 60 is inevitable and will happen RIGHT NOW unless we roll over on the issue. Ummmm.... where were these genius Washington guys 6 months ago? Why didn't they see this coming?

This is a good question but another legitimate question might be: "Where were you and most other FedEx pilots more than two years ago when information on this matter was coming your way?"

A little over two years ago, I and a friend, both ALPA members at the time, stuffed virtually every pilot mailbox in Memphis and other cities with an article I wrote titled "Age 60 and Global Unity." Here are some excerpts:

For more than 20 years, this writer has actively engaged in working for and writing about pilot unity. These days, it seems that there is always some issue around that can either enhance or inhibit the sense of professional unity that pilots desire. The Age 60 matter is no exception. The purpose of this article is to show that ALPA pilots should seriously consider supporting a change to the Age 60 rule (the “Rule”) if they intend to be in harmony with fellow pilots worldwide, the public, and with general global trends. This paper is about unity, credibility, and relevancy...

Allegiance to obsolete concepts such as the Age 60 rule represents the mentality causing [our] decline. Make no mistake about it, the Age 60 rule is under monumental global pressure and change will occur for air carriers in the United States. It is hoped that after reading the following points you will agree that not only should ALPA members support a change to the Rule, they must take a leadership role in creating something new...

By helping to rewrite the rules ALPA pilots can unify with pilots worldwide and enhance the professional stature of pilots in this country...

An alternative, of course, is to let changes be legislated into existence and delivered to the pilots as a government mandate. If pilots take control of the issue, it is easy to envision a plan akin to that at Air Canada Jazz, wherein, retirement at Age 60 without penalty is an option. If the lawmakers do it...well, you know the answer...

Public Perception and Professional Image: A discussion of the Age 60 rule cannot be complete without considering how the piloting profession is perceived by lawmakers and the general public. A profession that is already viewed as disconnected from the average person is ill-advised these days to distance itself any further. A public whose own working life is getting longer and whose social benefits are sliding to a later age is unlikely to sympathize with a group that insists on bucking trends considered reasonable even by other pilot unions. This is a bigger issue than it might appear. Union membership has reportedly dropped to about nine percent of the private sector [is now 7.4%], likely, in part, because unions are often seen as averse to progressive action in even the most obvious circumstances...

The Age 60 matter is reminiscent of the effort in the early 1980s to keep the third pilot in the cockpit of the B-737. Southwest and other carriers were flying the aircraft with two crewmembers but ALPA pilots thought they could buck the trend. They were wrong. When the status quo is out of harmony with everything reasonable in the world, pilots who insist on preserving it will be ignored. It does not matter what "the rules were when we signed up." The rules change every day and...the failure to sensibly respond damages credibility and leads to irrelevancy...

If ALPA pilots wish to retain the designation of "professional," they must cease burning political and public capital on issues that smack of short-term, "it's all about me" thinking. They must cease raising the "safety" flag where it is not warranted. And, they must come up with professional-type solutions to the issues. Rules that were created in a highly regulated economic environment, 50 years ago, don't work. And, insistence on their preservation creates not only an image of amateurism and isolationism, but appears downright bizarre to outside observers. This is the kind of thing that leads to union irrelevancy and it must be avoided....

Probably more than any other pilot group, the FedEx pilots were made well aware of the "impending Age 60 train wreck," and had plenty of time to get out in front of it. In fact, my first article on the issue was published in 1997 by the FPA. There are no good excuses for having ignored it.

Nevertheless, this is no time for more finger-pointing and disunity. In spite of my disagreement with Dave Webb over how this matter was handled in the past, he is right about what needs to be done now. There is much more that needs to be done strategically if our profession is to avoid further damage, but he is right about the immediate action that must be taken.

You may take my word for it if you wish, or reject it. It is up to you. I am involved in the process. The worst thing that ALPA can do now is to try and force the status quo on both its own members and a society that rejects it.

Bob