US Airways'' pilots blast pension cuts as illegal

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chipmunn

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US Airways'' pilots blast pension cuts as illegal
PITTSBURGH (Post-Gazette) - US Airways'' unionized pilots today are expected to try to block the carrier from terminating their pension plan, saying the move represents an illegal attempt to annul its labor contract with the company.
They are looking to rip out our pension plan and leave a hole in our contract, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) spokesman Roy Freundlich said yesterday.
But in papers filed last month in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Va., the airline contended that unless it can reduce its pension expenses by terminating the pilots'' plan, it won''t be able to pay off debts and emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The airline also said that termination of the pilots'' pension plan and creation of a new plan to replace some of the lost pension benefits would not violate the collective bargaining agreement, which it noted has been amended from time to time through negotiations between the airline and ALPA.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell next Thursday plans to hear arguments on the airline''s proposal to terminate the pilots'' pension plan.
The court and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), a federal agency that insures the private pension plans of 44 million Americans, would have to approve such a move.
The outcome of the high-stakes battle could determine whether US Airways can achieve its goal of emerging from Chapter 11 by the end of March.
The airline already has coaxed about $1.9 billion in annual concessions from its unionized employees, aircraft lessors and lenders. However, unless it can reduce its pension expenses over the next six years, it has said it won''t be able to win final approval from a federal board for a $900 million loan guarantee that it needs to obtain $1 billion in private financing.
The company also has said that failure to resolve the pension dispute could jeopardize $200 million in interim financing from the Retirement Systems of Alabama -- money it says it must have to pay for operations through March 31, when it expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
If it''s unable to slash pension obligations, the airline has said it also won''t be able to receive an additional $240 million from the Alabama pension fund as well as $3 billion to $4 billion in financing it needs to purchase or lease a fleet of new regional jets. Deployment of the smaller jets is a cornerstone of its plan to return to profitability in a few years.
ALPA maintains that the Arlington, Va.-based carrier is unfairly trying to place the burden of cutting its pension costs on the backs of 8,000 retired and active pilots. Those pilots stand to lose up to 65 percent of their benefits if the pension plan is terminated, ALPA said.
US Airways has said it will not seek to terminate the pension plans of lesser-paid flight attendants or aircraft mechanics.
The company has said it anticipates having $3.1 billion in underfunded pension obligations through 2009, about $2 billion of which would go to support the pilots'' plan. The remainder would support the pensions of other employees, principally the mechanics and the flight attendants.
By canceling the pilots'' retirement plan, the company said it could reduce the underfunding of the pilots'' plan from $2 billion to $840 million over the next six years -- enough to satisfy the needs of the federal board and the Alabama pension fund, which stands to receive a controlling stake in the carrier for its capital infusion.
The pilots union contends US Airways has overstated its pension plan expenses. It said changes agreed to following second round of pay-and-benefit concessions late last year pared the company''s pension obligations to pilots by $500 million to about $1.7 billion.
What particularly upsets the pilots, Freundlich said, is that the company wants to use the savings it receives by terminating the pilots pension to cover other employees'' pension plans and to help finance the purchase of regional jets. It was through negotiations with the pilots, he noted, that US Airways was able to boost the number of regional jets it can deploy from 70 to 465.
 
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On 2/13/2003 1:24:57 AM chipmunn wrote:


What particularly upsets the pilots, Freundlich said, is that the company wants to use the savings it receives by terminating the pilots pension to cover other employees' pension plans and to help finance the purchase of regional jets. It was through negotiations with the pilots, he noted, that US Airways was able to boost the number of regional jets it can deploy from 70 to 465.

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If the MEC Propoganda officers instruct Freundlich to repeat this line often enough, will it be true?

Hmm, looks like the other pensions are about %78 funded. So that's not it. Not that the pilots, the MEC, or Woerth himself would have any idea what the company is specifically going to do with the "savings" from terminating the pilots' pension.

More stellar PR from the Airways MEC. Maybe the part about funding the RJs _is_ correct. At least then the "senior" members of the MEC who have marched to the ALPA line of "Eat your young" for all this time can take some solace that their sacrafice should provide plenty of RJs to get the junior guys back on property for years to come, and to build up a new pension. Can you smell the irony?
 
What is also ironic is the fact that the Alabama PENSION Fund is requiring the termination of the pilots fund to secure their investment. If I was a pension holder in Alabama I may have a problem with this morally. That being said it is hard to gather support to a side that is trying to defend a 6 digit a year payout. Earned or not it does not ring well to the person with a low pension.
 
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On 2/13/2003 4:40:21 PM The Real Deal wrote:

What is also ironic is the fact that the Alabama PENSION Fund is requiring the termination of the pilots fund to secure their investment. If I was a pension holder in Alabama I may have a problem with this morally. That being said it is hard to gather support to a side that is trying to defend a 6 digit a year payout. Earned or not it does not ring well to the person with a low pension.
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I agree. I had written out previously that ALPA should be contacting the Teachers Federation whose pensions are with RSA. TFA should give much support to ALPA, I would think.
 
ALPA cannot strike, plain and simple, US Airways will own ALPA national if the pilots try to wildcat.
 
I would like to thank ALPA for funding my pension ! What a stand up bunch of fellas. It's great to know that you guys realize that our poor down-trodden company can no longer afford $1 million lump sum pension payments. I'm sure that everyone is aware that a 30 yr. retiring mechanic receives a pension of around $25,000 per year. I would like to request that ALPA consider raising my pension from $25,000 to around $70,000 or so, Which is around what a pilot retires on.. Gee,, Thanks
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On 2/13/2003 7:18:54 PM insp89 wrote:

I would like to thank ALPA for funding my pension ! What a stand up bunch of fellas. It's great to know that you guys realize that our poor down-trodden company can no longer afford $1 million lump sum pension payments. I'm sure that everyone is aware that a 30 yr. retiring mechanic receives a pension of around $25,000 per year. I would like to request that ALPA consider raising my pension from $25,000 to around $70,000 or so, Which is around what a pilot retires on.. Gee,, Thanks [img src='http://www.usaviation.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif']
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Did you get a bachelors degree and then spend 8-10 years training in the military
or in the civilian market before you could become an airline mechanic? Think about it!!
 
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On 2/13/2003 9:07:27 PM pit76dr wrote:

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On 2/13/2003 8:04:09 PM LavMan wrote:

ALPA cannot strike, plain and simple, US Airways will own ALPA national if the pilots try to wildcat.
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There are many ways to deny said corporation from the fruits of labor! Be creative -- think about it!
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Yep ask the Allied Pilots Association how much it cost them? Ask UAL mechanics and NWA mechanics how it feels to be fired for violating the injuction that prohibits a slowdown.

Cause US will have one slapped against ALPA faster then your head can spin!
 
It's very simple!

"2.4.% DOH to Jan. '03 and FAE best 36 out of 10 or STRIKE!"

A pension is INVIOLABLE and NON-NEGOTIABLE! It has already been earned! It may be modified, as ours has, but it can never be retroactively modified. A promise, an oath earned from year to year from DOH is in the bank! NO CHANGES WILL BE PERMITTED!
The company managers have too much riding on this ($$$$$) to let the pilot's pension stop them. THEY WILL BLINK!
 
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On 2/13/2003 8:04:09 PM LavMan wrote:

ALPA cannot strike, plain and simple, US Airways will own ALPA national if the pilots try to wildcat.
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There are many ways to deny said corporation from the fruits of labor! Be creative -- think about it!
 
Folks,

I don't know why but I'm getting a sense of "test balloon" here. If the PBGC can get away with taking the pilots pension, what's to stop them from playing the same game with any other wage-earning citizen?

Lots of "baby-boomers" are close to retirement age. Lots of us lost money in the stock market. The country is accruing some Big Time debt here financing a war no one wants but we will have to pay for just the same.

ALPA isn't the most popular group around but stop and think: Who's next? Teachers? Nurses? You? Or even worse, ME?

The whole deal is unjust at best and immoral as well.

We all need to join this battle before it's too late.
 
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On 2/13/2003 8:32:51 PM Dea Certe wrote:

Folks,

I don't know why but I'm getting a sense of "test balloon" here. If the PBGC can get away with taking the pilots pension, what's to stop them from playing the same game with any other wage-earning citizen?

Lots of "baby-boomers" are close to retirement age. Lots of us lost money in the stock market. The country is accruing some Big Time debt here financing a war no one wants but we will have to pay for just the same.

ALPA isn't the most popular group around but stop and think: Who's next? Teachers? Nurses? You? Or even worse, ME?

The whole deal is unjust at best and immoral as well.

We all need to join this battle before it's too late.
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A "war no one wants"! I want it and at last count I believe 68% of people polled want it! We are grievously threatened. A preemptory strike is just and proportional!
 
Chip,

We know that the pilot group is getting screwed. We understand that the "powers that be" have really dealt a serious blow to our labor groups. However, what I don't understand is how you can parade around the PIT crew room complaining as if your the only pilot at this company who is being asked to bend over. There are dozens of empolyees at this company that are going without and in the coming months will learn how to re-create their lives under the pressures that our leaders have created. Your pathetic rhetoric is not well recieved. I bear witness to an individual whose entitlement has gotten in the way of his sense. SUCK IT UP CHIP! We're all spinning, seeking, lost if I may! YOU do't bid well for a Pilot-in-Command! Complain to your wife and your priveleged children. TOO BAD ONLY 2 DOZEN EMPLOYEES WERE THERE TO WITNESS YOUR LESS THAN ACCEPTABLE NONSENSE.

Completely,

Sickened
 
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On 2/13/2003 9:07:27 PM pit76dr wrote:

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On 2/13/2003 8:04:09 PM LavMan wrote:

ALPA cannot strike, plain and simple, US Airways will own ALPA national if the pilots try to wildcat.
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There are many ways to deny said corporation from the fruits of labor! Be creative -- think about it!
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Some people don't understand that a strike is totaaly unneccessary. Pilots have much more power with the "go lever" in their hand, than a picket sign. There is nothing illegal or immoral about flying SAFELY and BY THE RULES.