Town Hall Meeting Comments
08-23-2007, 09:06 AM
#51
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2007
Position: MD-11 F/O
Posts: 390
I can see it now in the next negotiation:
"Guys the company is going to give us a 4% A fund, but the retirement age is going to be 65. There will also be a 3% penalty now for those who retire before 65. Don't let mad get in front of money!"
No thanks! I'd say keep it as is, since most of us have planned on it and want it.
"Guys the company is going to give us a 4% A fund, but the retirement age is going to be 65. There will also be a 3% penalty now for those who retire before 65. Don't let mad get in front of money!"
No thanks! I'd say keep it as is, since most of us have planned on it and want it.
08-23-2007, 10:36 AM
#52
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: DC10 Captain
Posts: 284
08-23-2007, 01:31 PM
#53
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2007
Position: 727 Captain
Posts: 205
Does VEBA provide a benefit for FDX? If it is a neutral element of the CBA for the company, what would it take for us to get another LOA to summarily eliminate it from the CBA? After all, we are in full swing trying to protect the young 'uns with the latest LOA, and this would be just one more step in the right direction. As I see it, I pay about $100 per month for my family's health care, then I spend another $50 to supplement the health care of some pilot that can now continue to work, earn money, spend it on his own family and live the dream of his dreams.
Let's take a poll or something and see what the membership would like to do with this issue.
Let's take a poll or something and see what the membership would like to do with this issue.
08-23-2007, 02:01 PM
#54
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,838
Does VEBA provide a benefit for FDX? If it is a neutral element of the CBA for the company, what would it take for us to get another LOA to summarily eliminate it from the CBA? After all, we are in full swing trying to protect the young 'uns with the latest LOA, and this would be just one more step in the right direction. As I see it, I pay about $100 per month for my family's health care, then I spend another $50 to supplement the health care of some pilot that can now continue to work, earn money, spend it on his own family and live the dream of his dreams.
Let's take a poll or something and see what the membership would like to do with this issue.
Let's take a poll or something and see what the membership would like to do with this issue.
VEBA stands for Voluntary Employee Benefit Annuity.You (each of us) spend .50 cents of each hour of pay towards VEBA. 50 cents x 72 hours is $36 a month
The Point is it will hopefully it will be there for you and your family when it is your turn.
The over 60 guys working don't spend money from VEBA since they are active. This reduces the money drawn from the Trust and actually allows the VEBA trust to grow. At some point it could reduce the need for payments as long as it can Self fund.
BTW, I don't hear you complaining about the Well-point Medical plan (much improved over Cigna and compare it to most other carriers medical plans) you will get beginning in JAN and your 7% B fund, nor do I hear you complaining about the Pay raise you received.
08-23-2007, 03:23 PM
#57
Line Holder
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Posts: 57
VEBA stands for Voluntary Employee Benefit Annuity.You (each of us) spend .50 cents of each hour of pay towards VEBA. 50 cents x 72 hours is $36 a month
The Point is it will hopefully it will be there for you and your family when it is your turn.
The over 60 guys working don't spend money from VEBA since they are active. This reduces the money drawn from the Trust and actually allows the VEBA trust to grow. At some point it could reduce the need for payments as long as it can Self fund.
BTW, I don't hear you complaining about the Well-point Medical plan (much improved over Cigna and compare it to most other carriers medical plans) you will get beginning in JAN and your 7% B fund, nor do I hear you complaining about the Pay raise you received.
The Point is it will hopefully it will be there for you and your family when it is your turn.
The over 60 guys working don't spend money from VEBA since they are active. This reduces the money drawn from the Trust and actually allows the VEBA trust to grow. At some point it could reduce the need for payments as long as it can Self fund.
BTW, I don't hear you complaining about the Well-point Medical plan (much improved over Cigna and compare it to most other carriers medical plans) you will get beginning in JAN and your 7% B fund, nor do I hear you complaining about the Pay raise you received.
The pay raise was a joke, cost of living only. There was no actual pay raise.
Health Care. VEBA was an improvement until our leaders sold it down the river by endorsing the change to retire at 65. VEBA will no longer be needed as a bridge to medicare as we will soon have to work to 65. Well point is better you say, ok I'll take your word for it, I guess.
Retirement. Unless you've been here for over 25 years, there was no improvement. And who among you thinks there will be an A fund when they retire? When no one in the industry has one, no one in the company has one except us. 1% bump in B fund is our only benefit.
Scheduling. No hard language preventing the company from doing anything. The great improvements in scheduling, well they speak for themselves dont they.
Scope. Well, we just had to give up junior manning to FDAs to improve on a scope clause that was"industry leading" less than 1 year later.
So all in all, we didnt do as good as you might think. Except to set up having to expend all our negotiating capital on retirement. Again. And scheduling again. And we already gave up more for scope. Way to think ahead.
Incremental improvements my a$$.
08-23-2007, 04:56 PM
#58
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2007
Position: 727 Captain
Posts: 205
RedEye, I'm not complaining about WellCare or the CBA. Overall, I think it might be a good document. But since the ink dried on that document, a few significant issues may have muted a few of its highlights.
Age 60. My retirement, ability to retire, quality of life and earning ability may be in jeopardy.
FDA LOA. All the hype about future growth and new purple airplanes to operate and upgrade into may not be a financially lucrative option for many of us. "Us" meaning anyone with children or with a home that's fully furnished and not in a position to liquidate all their worldly possessions to live in an otherwise more expensive location than the one they currently live. To those of you living in West Palm, it likely won't be a meaningful financial issue to you. To some of us, it probably will be something worth looking into.
We traded "Disruption Pay" for "International Grid Penalty Events". For those of us on the Boeing, gone are the hotel layover disruptions, extra pay for takeoffs and landings, et al. Those blue moon perks were offered up to help the MDers pay for extra wasabi on their yellow tail while orbiting the globe. But with the onset of the China FDA, I wonder if those IGPEs will be as frequent as the blue moon. We all may have been snookered on this one.
Health Care. I don't have a bone to pick with Well Care. Not yet anyway. But I have no plan to bid either of the FDAs. Look for those guys to blog this website after they need an MRI in Hong Kong. I guess my Cigna bill will be higher with WellCare, but I hear I'm getting a better product.
VEBA. VEBA. Don't blow smoke at me that I might reap that benefit. I'll sooner see a Social Security Check from Hillary Clinton. I'm not 53 years old, so I am specifically written out of that benefit. I need to hope that we can delete it when the next CBA is drafted. I suspect we'll be voting on that CBA in 2014 at the earliest.
Wait! Wait! Wait!
I'll be 53 years old in 2014. NO! NO! Keep VEBA. Keep VEBA.
The cherry picking has already begun. Age 60 and the FDA LOA are just the first ones we have heard about. We have a good CBA, with all its faults and highlights. VEBA makes little sense for a retired FedEx pilot who may have, should have, and likely did earn enough to provide for his family's medical needs.
We have 3 years, more likely 7 years now with this highly productive and low cost package that favors the companl's future international growth, to look closely at this document and how it affects us good and bad.
Age 60. My retirement, ability to retire, quality of life and earning ability may be in jeopardy.
FDA LOA. All the hype about future growth and new purple airplanes to operate and upgrade into may not be a financially lucrative option for many of us. "Us" meaning anyone with children or with a home that's fully furnished and not in a position to liquidate all their worldly possessions to live in an otherwise more expensive location than the one they currently live. To those of you living in West Palm, it likely won't be a meaningful financial issue to you. To some of us, it probably will be something worth looking into.
We traded "Disruption Pay" for "International Grid Penalty Events". For those of us on the Boeing, gone are the hotel layover disruptions, extra pay for takeoffs and landings, et al. Those blue moon perks were offered up to help the MDers pay for extra wasabi on their yellow tail while orbiting the globe. But with the onset of the China FDA, I wonder if those IGPEs will be as frequent as the blue moon. We all may have been snookered on this one.
Health Care. I don't have a bone to pick with Well Care. Not yet anyway. But I have no plan to bid either of the FDAs. Look for those guys to blog this website after they need an MRI in Hong Kong. I guess my Cigna bill will be higher with WellCare, but I hear I'm getting a better product.
VEBA. VEBA. Don't blow smoke at me that I might reap that benefit. I'll sooner see a Social Security Check from Hillary Clinton. I'm not 53 years old, so I am specifically written out of that benefit. I need to hope that we can delete it when the next CBA is drafted. I suspect we'll be voting on that CBA in 2014 at the earliest.
Wait! Wait! Wait!
I'll be 53 years old in 2014. NO! NO! Keep VEBA. Keep VEBA.
The cherry picking has already begun. Age 60 and the FDA LOA are just the first ones we have heard about. We have a good CBA, with all its faults and highlights. VEBA makes little sense for a retired FedEx pilot who may have, should have, and likely did earn enough to provide for his family's medical needs.
We have 3 years, more likely 7 years now with this highly productive and low cost package that favors the companl's future international growth, to look closely at this document and how it affects us good and bad.
08-23-2007, 05:36 PM
#59
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: 767 Cap
Posts: 1,306
We traded "Disruption Pay" for "International Grid Penalty Events". For those of us on the Boeing, gone are the hotel layover disruptions, extra pay for takeoffs and landings, et al. Those blue moon perks were offered up to help the MDers pay for extra wasabi on their yellow tail while orbiting the globe. But with the onset of the China FDA, I wonder if those IGPEs will be as frequent as the blue moon. We all may have been snookered on this one.
08-23-2007, 07:22 PM
#60
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,838
RedEye, I'm not complaining about WellCare or the CBA. Overall, I think it might be a good document. But since the ink dried on that document, a few significant issues may have muted a few of its highlights.
Age 60. My retirement, ability to retire, quality of life and earning ability may be in jeopardy.
FDA LOA. All the hype about future growth and new purple airplanes to operate and upgrade into may not be a financially lucrative option for many of us. "Us" meaning anyone with children or with a home that's fully furnished and not in a position to liquidate all their worldly possessions to live in an otherwise more expensive location than the one they currently live. To those of you living in West Palm, it likely won't be a meaningful financial issue to you. To some of us, it probably will be something worth looking into.
We traded "Disruption Pay" for "International Grid Penalty Events". For those of us on the Boeing, gone are the hotel layover disruptions, extra pay for takeoffs and landings, et al. Those blue moon perks were offered up to help the MDers pay for extra wasabi on their yellow tail while orbiting the globe. But with the onset of the China FDA, I wonder if those IGPEs will be as frequent as the blue moon. We all may have been snookered on this one.
Health Care. I don't have a bone to pick with Well Care. Not yet anyway. But I have no plan to bid either of the FDAs. Look for those guys to blog this website after they need an MRI in Hong Kong. I guess my Cigna bill will be higher with WellCare, but I hear I'm getting a better product.
VEBA. VEBA. Don't blow smoke at me that I might reap that benefit. I'll sooner see a Social Security Check from Hillary Clinton. I'm not 53 years old, so I am specifically written out of that benefit. I need to hope that we can delete it when the next CBA is drafted. I suspect we'll be voting on that CBA in 2014 at the earliest.
.
Age 60. My retirement, ability to retire, quality of life and earning ability may be in jeopardy.
FDA LOA. All the hype about future growth and new purple airplanes to operate and upgrade into may not be a financially lucrative option for many of us. "Us" meaning anyone with children or with a home that's fully furnished and not in a position to liquidate all their worldly possessions to live in an otherwise more expensive location than the one they currently live. To those of you living in West Palm, it likely won't be a meaningful financial issue to you. To some of us, it probably will be something worth looking into.
We traded "Disruption Pay" for "International Grid Penalty Events". For those of us on the Boeing, gone are the hotel layover disruptions, extra pay for takeoffs and landings, et al. Those blue moon perks were offered up to help the MDers pay for extra wasabi on their yellow tail while orbiting the globe. But with the onset of the China FDA, I wonder if those IGPEs will be as frequent as the blue moon. We all may have been snookered on this one.
Health Care. I don't have a bone to pick with Well Care. Not yet anyway. But I have no plan to bid either of the FDAs. Look for those guys to blog this website after they need an MRI in Hong Kong. I guess my Cigna bill will be higher with WellCare, but I hear I'm getting a better product.
VEBA. VEBA. Don't blow smoke at me that I might reap that benefit. I'll sooner see a Social Security Check from Hillary Clinton. I'm not 53 years old, so I am specifically written out of that benefit. I need to hope that we can delete it when the next CBA is drafted. I suspect we'll be voting on that CBA in 2014 at the earliest.
.
As for the FDA, it most likely won't affect you or me negatively ( I guess we will have to wait and see for sure). If things PAN out, the FDAs will benefit you from additional international growth, which is where most of our upward movement has come and will come from.
As for disruption pay versed the Grid Penalty. I'm on the 11 and the GPE haven't paned out for us either. Word on the street is that since the ink dried, only 2 MD-11 pairings have qualified for a GPE (rumor only), but a hard FACT is I haven't seen one and I get revised all the time (can you say Typhoon season?)
As for VEBA, you might reap the benefit. Yes it appears that the Company wants to negotiate retiremrnt benefits with known numbers each time..........
You will have alot more chance getting VEBA money than a SSA Check. Unlike SS, the VEBA fully funded and has strong potential to be self sustaining. The VEBA does not expire, it will go away only if it negotiated away just the same as your retirement benefits........SSN isn't close.
It is easy to cast stones at your leadership, but our leadership is made up of
members spanning the entire seniority system. In other words have the MEC is Junior.
Could our latest contract have been better?.........You bet, but thank you lucky stars you are here because like it or not you have the Best Deal going and you my firend are the envy of the industry. I hope you realize that.
Cheers
Last edited by RedeyeAV8r; 08-24-2007 at 09:10 AM.
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