Agreed.

That's exactly how not improving the A-plan is a huge hit to our QOL, now, and in the future.

The productivity gains in the TA, coupled with the SLB, and the option to reduce VAC on SLR, will not only delay retirements, but have even more guys flying their a$$ off. The company wins all-round. And as a nice bonus to the company, the overall number of DB payments will be reduced as long-term fatigue and health issues resulting from the continuos optimizing of pairings and of ourselves (as we now work to fund our own retirement), causes yet a bigger decline in our life expectancy.

 

USMC and Cloudsailor are absolutely right this TA hurts us and really empowers the company moving forward. I am hearing more No's from crewmembers throughout the various fleets. However I still run across enough guys who are completely uniformed and can't wait to vote yes and already have their "BONUS" money spent that I am worried. I ask them why they are voting yes and they almost always say "The union voted yes so it must be a good deal.

 

There was no B plan in 1998...???

What year was the B plan implemented?

At what percentage?

What was the A Plan formula at that time?

I know the B plan was 6% in 2006...then raised to 7% under the 2006 contract

Now it's going to be raised to 8%...and then eventually 9%

I think a mix of both the A plan & B plan is the most prudent for many reasons.

In order to compare our "total retirement benefit" over the history of Fedex contracts, we should compare the history of both plans.

Old heads, please provide

Thanks.

 

The fact that the B-plan is a "recent" addition here hammers home my focus on the A-plan.

It is a negotiated benefit. It is deferred compensation. We gave up something - higher pay rates - for an A-plan.

To let that hard-fought, negotiated benefit die on the vine is an insult.

When the company tells the NC "Sorry, increasing the multiplier is too expensive" my thought is "Of course they would say that".

My next thought is "Of course we would say no to such a blatant degradation of one our hardest-fought benefits".

 

Exactly right and the company has said you will have to give up a lot more to raise the cap. Too much said ALPA, and here we are.

 

The B-plan was in the first contract.

 

Date & percentage?

What were the terms of the A plan at that time?

YOS (25 max) x 2% x High 5 ($260 cap)...???

 

Why would we have to give up a lot more to raise the cap? It would cost them money?

What kind of bonanza did they get when the retirement age was raised to 65? So if people are retiring at an average age (I heard 64 approximately) instead of what it was before (59ish, I'm guessing), that's five extra years they're not paying it, for every pilot. So what happened to that five years per pilot average extra pension that is unpaid? Where is that money?

 

The YOS(25 Max) x 2%=50% of your High 5 has existed since just after Flying Tiger pilots arrived on the property in August 1989. Prior to that I recall it was YOS(25 Max) x 1.6%=40% of your High 5 plus a COLA of up to 5% a year for inflation. The change from 1.6% to 2.0% eliminated the COLA.

The $260,000 earnings cap came with the first and only FPA contract. I believe it came about because the IRS had a limit of a $130,000 for a defined benefit in a Qualified Pension Plan. Since our max benefit was 50% of FAE the $260,000 assured the benefit would never exceed the IRS limit. The IRS limit is adjusted for inflation, but the contract is not. By the time ALPA arrived the second time and signed their first contract in 2006 the IRS defined benefit limit rose to $175,000 so our earnings cap should have risen to $350,000. Now the IRS defined benefit has risen to $210,000 so the cap should rise to $420,000. Now the sad fact is ALPA has failed to secure the basic benefit that the Fedex Pilots Association secured in 1998 in a parking lot in 1998.


FYI the pension plan was at Federal Express long before the pilots unionized. Almost ALL FedEx employees were covered by the same plan including pilots. The corporation changed the plan for all non pilots around 2007 but the pilots avoided it because we had a union contract. Looks to me that the union has no will to protect the pilot pension.

 

Lot of guessing, Ill bet it was closer to 62 vice 59. I flew with a lot of over 60 and over 65 SOs.