Quote:
Originally Posted by FDX1
I understand you may be retiring soon or have retired already and won’t get to improve your pension. We have never had this exact problem before during negotiations but pilots have received pay and service multiplier improvements because of limited time to capture improvements that occurred in the DC.
No pilot ever received retirement benefit improvements after they retired however. You probably also received the bonus money associated with the last contract (SLB) lump sum that not all pilots qualified for, again based on age and years of service.
I understand why you would feel that way though.
When the union and the company manipulated the bids to get the over 60 FE's back into the left seat during the age 65 debacle, the union position was "it's the right thing to do".
Well, guess what, giving retro retirements back to the amendable date, as part of the agreement, is the "right thing to do".
Oh, and I have no skin in this game, unless negotiations last for a long, long time.
Also, perhaps all those 777 Captains flying extra wouldn't be so interested in doing that if "their" union hadn't come out against allowing them to work to age 67.
Ageism, anyone?
They keep saying it is "our" union, but the leadership doesn't ask, or care to know, the opinions of the rank and file. Their attitude is that they are smarter than us, and, news flash, they aren't always. I asked about Roth 401K's in the contract before 2015 (2012?). "They" said, we wouldn't benefit from them, and ALPA National was not on board, so no soup for you. Finally, we got them in 2015, when we could have gotten them a lot earlier, IF ONLY THE LEADERSHIP HAD LISTENED.
We also told them the "lie flat seats" verbiage would screw us, but they said, "oh no, you'll be ok". How did that one turn out?
Turns out the ALPA attorneys are no smarter than the old FPA attorneys, and, I have been told, a couple of them are the same people.
I am in favor of the expedited mediation, but I still reserve my right to vote no.