Whistlin' Dan
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 18, 2006
- Posts
- 460
The best thing for the craft, or the best thing for you, personally? And are we talking about pilots here, or terrorists? Because from your tone, you sound less like a professional, and more like the Ku Klux Klan.Flopgut said:Dan, You spin eloquently about unity and brotherhood, but do you ever consider that because the majority of your union brothers want you gone at 60, that maybe the best thing for the craft is for you to be gone at 60?
Maybe I oughtta fetch up de wife and chillun's and gets to gettin' outta 'dis ol' town. It sounds like dem brotha's is fixin' to ride on my a$$ tonight. Dey's plannin' to run ol' Dan off'n his farm, take his land and his mule fo' dey selves...
You are correct, I DO believe in unity and brotherhood among pilots. But I also believe that "rank has it's priviliges," and that the seniority system, in which "rank" is conferred largely by date-of-hire, is the best one for our profession. Therefore, I would NOT expect that anybody in your pilot group senior to you would forego a system bid, upgrade, or opportunity to work, simply to accelerate your advancement to the left seat. I would further expect that when you are a senior crewmember, you will not forego any of those things for junior crewmembers, either.
That might have been true at one time, but that is no longer the case. Many of us DO have career expectations that extend beyond 60. The proposal to change the rule has been bandied about for at least 15 years that I'm aware of. Weren't you paying attention? You knew (or should have known) that a change was in the works. If your argument is that I "took the job knowing that 60 was the mandatory retirement age," then I would counter by saying that you took the job knowing that it would likely be raised to 65 during the course of your career.Flopgut said:There are NO career expectations past 60 in this gig...
The argument is a wash, at best.
But since this discussion is about "expectations" (both yours and mine), allow me summarize what mine are. I expect them (as I have for the last 10 years) to raise the retirement age to 65. I expect most current flight crewmembers to stay in their seats for as many of those additional years as possible. I expect that will slow progression to the left seat for junior crewmembers somewhat, but I further expect that they will recoup that loss (and more) in the last 5 years of their career.
There! Now that you've been officially informed of what you can "expect," you have a decision to make. If you feel that the forthcoming changes to the retirement age are going to make this profession untenable for you, this would be an excellent time to leave it. You can cash in your 401K, and buy a Kinko's franchise. Spend your "Golden Years" nursing paper cuts, cleaning up ink spills, unjamming copy machines, unclogging toilets, and b*tching about life in general.
Or, you can fly and b*tch.
It's a "no-brainer," as far as I'm concerned...