FollowMe

If the salary was meant to be set independent of other income factors, then why were other income factors explicitly written into the bylaws for BOD consideration when setting the salary? The airlines do not have the same explicit consideration called out in their agreements with respective pilot groups, at least none that I am aware of. But since you wanted to use this comparison, let's say that the agreement with your airline did call for other income consideration when setting your compensation. Do you think for one second that the legal department would not cry foul if you specifically deferred other income so it wouldn't be considered when setting your compensation as per the agreement?

The theory of the salary determination in the bylaws is clear, if a pilot who is making and living on $250,000/year is forced to take a leave of absence to serve this post, it is reasonable that the membership should support the pay that is being missed out on from his normal employment. It is not intended to be a windfall which goes above and beyond otherwise expected earnings.

The severity of the act depends upon what the BOD would have decided had they all of the relevant information at hand, according to the bylaws, when considering his salary. They could have kept the salary exactly where it is. Or, they could have decided on a lower salary given that the pilot was not on LOA without any other income pertaining to his pilot career. None of us know the answer to that, since the BOD was not provided with all of the relevant information to make their determination.

Again, disingenuous at best (assuming BOD would have decided same salary if given all of the relevant information), and outright fraud at worst (assuming BOD would have opted for a lower salary to compensate pilot only for that portion of his regular expected earnings missed out on in service of post). Going back to your scenario of a regular pilot and an airline, if such language existed under the same circumstances I can guarantee you that your legal department would consider it fraud.

busdriver12

FollowMe, since you speak as if you know specifics, can you tell me when the board of directors has ever reduced the president's pay because he was either getting retirement income, or deferred it until the end of his term? Have they reduced pay because someone was getting years of service credit? I'm not sure why you think they would have reduced pay, as I thought the point was to establish a minimum pay, not to pay the absolute minimum by reducing salary as much as possible.

It seems to me that if this was a problem with the BOD, they could vote for changes. Why don't you ask someone on the BOD if they would have reduced his salary, and now that things have changed, are they? Better than speculation and accusations.

FollowMe

busdriver, if there was never any intent by anyone in the history of ALPA to consider a reduction of the Presidents salary based on other income factors then why, pray tell, were they specifically called out in the bylaws?

You can shout "THEY WOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED THE SALARY" until you are blue in the face, and I could even stipulate to that fact. All that would prove is the best case scenario, that his actions were disingenuous.

Since we are in the speculation game, if deferring his retirement gains him zero dollars in retirement benefit, and the BOD stood zero chance of adjusting the salary downward, what possible motivation could there be for the deferral? Opportunity cost alone would call this an unwise financial move, not the type of foresight I'd look for in an organizations leader.

busdriver12

FollowMe, plenty of FedEx pilots defer taking their pensions. I plan to defer for a year myself, after I retire. It's a good move for some people.

busdriver12

To add, because I think you don't understand....you get an increased pension benefit if you defer your pension. So if you had another job where you were making a good income, or your spouse did, it could be a useful thing to defer your pension. It's kind of like social security, if you take it ASAP after retiring, you get the base amount, if you wait, you get more. You're taking a gamble on your lifespan, and any FedEx pilot can do this.