Im curious, just for clarity, is that during or after one retires? I can understand not reducing someone that is retired and has no voting rights but if 100% vote to reduce their A plan to 10k for a 5 million dollar bonus, would that not be allowed?

Whatever you have accrued to that point cannot be reduced by federal law. For example if you had 20 YOS and an FAE at or above $260k, you couldn’t have less than 2%*20*260k = 104k pension.

ALPA can be sued if it doesn’t represent the pilot group fairly. So it cannot negotiate one demographic’s future benefits away to improve another without opening itself to legal liability.

You guys who want a meaningful pension increase are going to have to accept the split retirement. Otherwise, you’re going to screw everyone out of a lot of money.

Thank you for the response but would you mind showing your work?

What work?

Companies can I believe offer pension buyouts but it has to be on a individual basis and voluntary.

second paragraph

https://pensionrights.org/issue/chan...r%20the%20plan.

If married when you retire, you are legally required by Fedex to take the minimum survivor benefit unless your spouse legally waives their right to your pension. It's roughly a 10% reduction based on the 50% slide down to spouse when you die.

Employers are generally free to change retirement plan rules for the future as long as most benefits earned up to the date the plan is changed are protected.

Retirement benefits that are protected up to the date the plan rules change include:

• Pension benefits payable at age 65 or other “normal retirement age”
• The share of a special early retirement benefit earned as of the date of the change – if the employee continues to work under the plan and meets the age and/or service requirements for the benefit

Retirement benefits that are not protected as of the date the plan rules change include:

• Special early retirement benefits if the employee has not met all of the requirements for the benefit as if the date of the rule change and does not continue to work for the employer or employers sponsoring the plan
• Disability benefits if the employee is not receiving the benefits at the date of the rule change
• Lump sum payments if the employee has not qualified for the payment as of the date of the rule change
• Most cost of living adjustments

Thanks for sharing. I'll add that the benefit of having a CBA is that ALPA has to agree to any changes to future plans as well.

Can you give the reference where a retirement benefit cannot be decreased by a contractual change voted on by the employees? Ie, if down the road the crew force decides to vote to decrease the A fund cap down to $200k and that is what is then in the contract, where in the IRS regs that not allowed. I know that cannot effect retired pilots, but pilots still on property. Thanks