Ive talked with numerous who have said they would be interested if the numbers are rite. I talked with my rep and they made it clear they are looking at all avenues for retirement increases. In negotiations the path can change depending on the person you are negotiating with.

 

Ridiculously hard sell. Don't think those words mean what you think they mean.

What's ridiculous is the fear-mongering about the plan.
The, there's no way to achieve those modeled results without investing in stocks...duh.
The, you'd have to be an idiot to bargain away our A plan...duh, VB plan is just a different benefit calculation, still an A plan-just one with a different formula.
The, military guys are going be screwed when they take a leave of abscence. Well, No, Military guys are specifically protected and all retirement benefits accrue as if they worked full time.
The, that 25 year salary is BS....I've been here 25 years and I don't earn anywhere close to that. Hello, that's a salary prediction for 25 years in the future. (And one that I personally think was Low on what it's likely to be. IMO-inflations going to be running higher, which means Pay raises are going to be higher than we've seen recently when inflations been in the 2% ballpark)

The ONE true fear-mongering comment is, well, I don't trust the model because nothings been negotiated yet. Tough to argue with that, but it's hard for me to imagine NO ONE noticing that any Benefit Change wouldn't be commented on by everyone. Impossible for me to imagine myself, failing to notice that the Floor Benefit limit was somehow left out.
But yes, everything's still to be negotiated. Got me there.

Hard Sell. Man, it's been anything but. It wasn't a Trust us, here's a power point. It was a here's what we considered. Here's what we think is the best option, one with a earnings cap that never has to be negotiated again, here's what the results are using actual returns from 99-present (Returns that included the dot.com bust circa 2001 as well as that of 2009)
We're setting up limited sessions in the hub to run your personal data. Well, we listened to your feedback and have taken the Modeler Live, so everyone can run their own scenarios from the comfort of their home

 

By clicking “Agree”, you acknowledge the following:
Use of this product is restricted to authorized FedEx Pilots, members of FDX Master Executive Council (MEC) and employees of Air Line Pilots Association. This product is offered as part of the FDX MEC’s ongoing education campaign concerning the variable defined benefit concept under consideration. This product is not offered for the purpose of financial, retirement planning, or legal advice. Various aspects of the variable defined benefit concept are subject to negotiation. Various assumptions have been made for the purpose of making the product operational and not as a representation concerning any final plan design. Estimates shown in this product rely on future demographic and economic experience conforming to the underlying assumptions and methods. To the extent actual experience deviates from the underlying assumptions and methods, or there are any changes in plan provisions or applicable laws, the estimates would vary accordingly. As such, users may not rely on the estimates as their actual retirement benefit.

Cheiron, Inc. owns all intellectual property rights in this product. Use of this product is subject to monitoring. Any unauthorized use of this product, including any attempt to modify, adapt, recreate, duplicate, reproduce, reverse engineer, “unlock,” decompile, combine or disassemble the product, is strictly prohibited. Use of this product does not create any third party rights in any user, and Cheiron assumes no duty or liability to any user. Cheiron disclaims all warranties with respect to the product, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, performance, quality, informational accuracy, and non-infringement. In no event shall Cheiron be liable to any user for any indirect, special, incidental, economic, or consequential loss or injury of any nature arising out of or caused in whole or in part by the use of this product.

AGREEREJECT

 

Whats your point? That’s standard liability relief language found in all investment material. Every retirement professional uses some sort of assumptions and predictive material for financial planning. Our current A plan has that type of language. Duhhhhhh


GRABBING FOR STRAWS NOW BOYS AND GIRLS

 

Yep, what a hard sell.

If you're an investor, you can read similar language on every platform you care to try their modeling.
At Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity, etc.

Or, if you take the time to actually read the Prospectus...there's gonna be a similar disclaimer.

Words to the effect that Past performance is no guarantee of future results.


But over a 20+ year timeframe, I know which way I'm gonna bet

 

Might be just me, but I kind of find it interesting that those most opposed to the PSPP are those with a maxed out Pension already (final modification proposal).

If you've already got 25 years in, PSPP is a modest improvement. Greater gains for those with a lot of years to go.

Whereas those already earning 360+, are under the impression that a change to the FAE to 360 (or greater) will be readily attainable and immediately modify their Pension when they retire in 2023 or 2024.

After all, our previous NC folded like Biff Tannen when they asked the company to modify the FAE and then simply never asked again. (If you believe that, I've got some bottom land for sale...just don't ask me what it's on the bottom of)


Personally, I'm of the opinion that FedEx would like to be out of the Pension business entirely.
I look at what FedEx has done to our non-contract protected fellow employees and extend that thinking to us which makes me tend to believe that Mgt's reported Line in the Sand comment wasn't just a throwaway to make Biff feel better.
In 2007 FedEx modified the Pension Plan from a Traditional One to a Cash balance one (Notional balance in a psuedo Mutual Fund. Sound familiar? Difference is the funding rate was 5% of salary. FedEx called it the Portable Pension Plan)
Last year FedEx eliminated even that with a switch to a 401k plan only.

Shoot, look at the deal with Met Life to transfer the Pension Obligations of 41k FedEx retirees. FedEx actually paid Met Life millions to do so.

 

Found the Forbes article talking about FedEx's actions over the past 12+years.

According to Forbes,
Offloading the Pension obligations cost FedEx $210M

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/.../#4075de35515f

 

I’m curious why no one at UPS is upset about their A plan but FedEx is? Is there something that I’m missing because they seem very similar. I know UPS just went up to 4400xYOS with the latest contract extension. So why are FedEx pilots lobbying for this but UPS pilots aren’t? I’m just trying to understand how one group seems to be getting screwed more but the other not when they appear to be the same?

 

My point is the model the union put out to sell the pancake plan is utter BS and the company that made it says as much.

 

Come on man, even you know that they’ve tried to sell this garbage to us. Expensive videos. Podcasts. And it’s still not popular despite the sales job.

They’re afraid to give us direct polling. Just be direct and ask the question. “Do you want the union to pursue the variable plan?” My guess is that the percentage of those in favor will be low.

And despite the sales job and wasted money spent on consultants, the company laughed at us. In business class, they’d call this sunk costs. It’s time to move on and find a different strategy.