Just a bit of history. ALPA never had a membership vote. Only sometime after 1989 did membership get to vote on a contract. Earlier days only Captains had one vote, co-pilots had a half vote. Prior to that Captains one vote, co-pilots non voting.

Maybe we should just let "The all-knowing wonderful George" vote for all of us?

Do retirees even get a vote?

I like that ...

MM

The union leadership keeps talking about the 28 year old that gets hired would be better off with this new program as if every new-hire is in his twenties... Please, the average guy hired here is likely closer to being in his early 40's still. In fact there's a guy I just met who was hired at 56. A guy hired with only 10 years available right now could possibly make his high 5 as a Captain considering the progression right now, and that would yield that individual over $50,000 dollars a year for life after age 65. An average hire in his mid 40's would get 20 years or so yielding over $100,000 for life at age 65. You've got to pull some pretty good percentages out of your "you know what" to beat that with only 10 or 20 years to accumulate your nest egg IMO.

This is a rat hole!

Excellent Post

We should have a frank discussion on the typical profile of a FedEx pilot

Age hired, age retired and most common seat progression, given our increasingly arduous schedules

Yes, some lottery winners are hired in their 20s - is that typical?

Yes, some hired in their early 50s - though pretty uncommon

Without knowing the exact demographics, I’ll guess the mean age is somewhere around 35, with the majority between 30-45

Given that, and the realization many are deciding to work to 65, I think there are oppprtunities to increase our current Defined Benefit plan without changing it to a Variable Benefit Plan subject to increased market risk transferred to the pilots

Adding 1% multipliers for years of service beyond 25 years is one suggestion I’ve heard other pilots mention

ie. First 25 years at 2%, then years 26-35 at 1%. Yields max possible 50% + 10% = 60%

Many ways to skin a cat

Let’s think broadly & critically.

I read on here someone write that maybe there should be an incentive for pilots to retire closer to 60 rather than 65. One idea I’ve heard is to make the multiplier 2.5% but only for a maximum of 20 years. It’s still yields a 50% pension. But for those in who are hired over the age of 40, it allows a maximum pension without having to go all the way to 65.

Only two incentives to retire early are if you value your health and time off more than you value money.

History shows most value money more since if you work to 65 you will make more than if you go early. Fedex did a great job of finding pilots that always need more$$.

Of course, that would be great for all pilots as you’d maximize the A fund percentage more quickly; but that’s only going to be more expensive for the company

I don’t see the company realistically agreeing to that

Rather, a 1% credit for each year over 25 - to a max of 30 or 35 years, merely recognizes the fact pilots (on average) are staying almost 5 more years

That means the company has 5 more years to contribute to their A fund...and 5 less years of A fund payouts

Working 5 more years does not extend your longevity

Now that the union has spent $$ researching and modeling the companies A fund costs, they should be using this argument to justify how the company is in fact saving on the current A fund, ever since the regulated age changed.

...Along with company savings from keeping the current CBA High-five cap of $260K since 1999.

If the company is refusing to increase the cap, there are other options to increase our total retirement

Additional years of service credit and an increased B fund, with cash over cap, are clearly options that don’t cause us to freeze the current plan and switch to a VB plan

One of the unintentional consequences of changing the plan is that we lose or are penalized for retiring at 60 or when you hit 25 years.

I would argue it is not unintentional at all. The whole point of the exercise is to capture more money for those who stay past 25.