Good morning, flying friends. I read a post on the NO HOPE fb page, a few days ago, and have been contemplating it ever since. So, today, wanted to send a "rebuttal" to the gentleman who made the post. I am not a member, so can not respond on the page. But, I just couldn't let it go unanswered.
Had to do some investigating, to find out that this colleague was hired for NW in 1981. He was complaining about paying $600 per year for union dues and only receiving measley profit sharing checks in the last couple of years or so with NW. Obviously, he has just received the last big PS check with DL and is very happy. He said having a union never got him any decent money. So class, let's get out the calculator.
First of all: $600 a year is $50 per month in dues. He did not pay that until he reached top pay. Top pay, I think was 12 years seniority. So that would have been 1993. But for easy math...let's pretend it was $50 from the beginning of his career. Our pension payments stopped in 2010. That is 29 years times $600.00 .That is a total of $17,400.00. But hey, let's pretend we were still paying because we still had a union. At 35 years paying $600 a year is $21,000.00
When our pension was frozen in 2005, that would have been 24 years seniority for him. We have a defined pension of $65 per month per year of service. So, ifhe decides to retire at 62 (when he can get his pension without a penalty) it will be $1,560 per month. No offset. So, in the first year of retirement, this gentleman will receive $18,720.00
He just got all those dues back, that he paid from 1981 to 2010. If we were still paying, 35 X $600 is $21000.00, he'd have all his dues back after 14 months of retirement.
Ok, that's just the pension that the union negotiated for us.
In 2008, when we came out of bankruptcy, our union negotiated a settlement for us, can't remember what it was called, but at top seniority (which this gentleman obviously was) we received $11000.00. $5000 (before taxes) went into our checking accounts and $7000.00 went into our 401IK. If you didn't have a 401k, NW set one up for you.
Every year, if you were senior enough you could fly close to the holidays and get holiday pay without actually flying on the day , itself. For me, that was about $300 per year. I believe this holiday pay was negotiated in our last contract. So, let's say the last 5 years or so, that would be about $1500 in holiday pay and still have the holidays off.
Every 2 years we got complete full uniform. So all the pieces you need. What is that value? $400? Let's be conservative and say only $200. So, dues stopped in 2010 (29 years) divided by 2 is 14.5 , so 14 years times $200 is $2800.00. .
Every 5 years a complete set of new luggage. What is that $300? Of course that is a conservative dollar amount. Lets say, he only got luggage 3 times. That is around $900.00
Crew bunk pay. I only got it once. 2 hours to GRU and 2 hours back to Detroit on a 767 with only seats for rest. That is $50 X 4 $200 bucks!
Plus things like private crew lounge (like the pilots still have) a say in galley design.
Sick time earned every month, could rack it up to $1500 or so hours.
Sick time , Family Emergency, Unable to commute were all separate entities. If I had 5 FE (family emergencies) in a year nothing was said, as long as you could show it was a real FE. You could call in sick on Christmas Day and nothing would be said if you had less than 3 sick calls.
Yes, a union can not stop base closings , but it can protect the employee. If your based closed you got your choice of a new base (in seniority order) and if you chose to physically move to that base, then the company paid for your move.
There is so much much more, but I am tired.
So, let's review:
Total union dues paid @ $600 per year for 29 years : $17,400.00 (remember it is actually less, since the dues go by what your hourly pay is)
Annual pension payments $18,720.00
Exiting Bankruptcy payment $11,000.00
minimum holiday pay for 5 years $1500.00
approx. uniform money, conservative. $2800.00
approx. luggage, conservative $900.00
Oh yeah, we also got at least 4 confirmed seat passes, over the years. In addition to perfect attendance passes. 2 summer rewards, 1 after the pilot strike (also received monetary compensation) A New Day pass after bankruptcy.
As you can see, this colleague has been more than compensated (already) for the dues he has paid. And, in the future, his pension will be compensating him more.
And just think, this FA (and others just like him) are telling their fellow FAS not to vote for a union. That the union has profited them, nothing.
Really? Wow.
