According to the Spirit HR office, our LTD goes to SS retirement age as long as you don't have previous experience, training or education in a field that could pay you 80% of your pre disability base earnings. In all cases, you get 24 months essentially unquestioned, after which the ins company will try to find a way to prove that you are otherwise able to earn that 80%. *

According to the SPA ALPA NC Contract Comparison distributed to the group in early June, HR is correct.

Has anyone here gone past 24 months? If so, what did the Ins co do after that time period.

I'm about to apply for LTD, but I hope to be back at work before it even kicks in, BUT even though I don't expect to be affected this time, this is a serious issue that needs attention in negotiations. If our LTD is only good for 24 months we definitely need to fix that.

* I was off for 18 months in 2003 and 2004, the policy DID work this way back then. But, the policy administrator has changed twice since then. We shall see. My experience with the current Spirit HR has been exceptional. From what I read, the problem will occur with the principle financial people.

 

Anybody else get the impression that the NC was implying that mediation was binding? They took a lot of time managing expectations on keeping work rules. All-in-all not a positive update.

 

Do you have a college degree? If so, you have an education to earn up to 80% of your predisability earnings. If you think for a second that this will not be what the insurance company says, you are wrong.

The only pilot LTD pilicies worth a shiit are based on holding a first class medical, have no offsets for other income or personal policies, and pay to 65.

 

Yes, that's what I got from it as well, but every single communication about this has been at best a guessing game.

 

I just read the email. I'm seeing them laying the expectations that this is going to be a long protracted fight. There cannot be a dollar figure attached to the work rules, the four days off, the transition conflict, line bidding or anything else that affects the quality of life. Sure, if the company wants to pay me a yearly wage that exceeds $500K a year, I'd entertain the notion, but short of that, I might as well go elsewhere. I'm seeing a whole lot of meeting to schedule more meetings to run around each other at the negotiating table in our future. I didnt see anything positive in this update.

 

I bet the company is presenting dollar figures for PBS vs. line bidding and transition conflict vs no conflict. They'll want that taken from the overall compensation package and say with those numbers plus x amount of pay and x amount of retirement we will make what Delta, AA, and United make. They know exactly how much the conflict costs them. That's why they didn't honor it and fought it.

This I all a numbers game to them. How can they give us the least amount of compensation and make us work the most. It's exactly what happened in 2010. We gained a little here and there and lost in other places. The current contract was cost neutral for the first 3 years.

 

When I went out 12 years ago for 18 months, the policy specifically stated that I would be paid unless I had previous training, education or experience in a field/occupation/job description that would pay 80% of my base pay. Not just any education MY education. FWIW, I have decades old Associated degree in professional aviation and a ERAU Bachelors in Professional Aeronautics. Please show me where I can make $130K/yr with that degree.

Don't get me wrong, I'm with you. I think that we need, must demand, better. We just need to talk reality, not conjecture.

 

They're too busy working us to vote for whatever they negotiate, they don't see that they're disclosing their goals.

Agreed, not a positive update. But, I don't expect any update. I expect the MEC, the Communications Committee, the P2P, etc, to work at keeping us unified and working together. I expect the NC to negotiate, leave the comm up to the Comm Committee and stop begging us for validity.

add in edit: I don't want an update. I want the MEC and NC to work and get the best deal available. If that takes more than six weeks, that's all the update I need. That is, time passing and time past should be an adequate indicator of negotiation progress. That is (2), the company can make a deal in short order if they want to, any lengthy timespan indicates a recalcitrant management team.

 

I totally agree. I'm expecting industry standard pay and retirement with NO change to our work rules. That's what I'm expecting. Anything less is a no vote from me.

I see where youre coming from but if there are no updates from the NC then people will be crying that they haven't heard anything. I'm just as guilty as everyone else wanting information but upset when I read that information.

 

Well....................yeah, obviously. This is not exclusive to Spirit management. This is exactly our goal in reverse. Our goal is to extract as much money as possible for as little work as possible. I cant fault management for that. Id love for them to throw money at us because they like us so much but im not going to get too terribly negative if they fight us either.