The airline industry is littered with sob stories -- especially in the last 20 years and the retirement age has never changed. When Eastern and Pam Am failed I didn’t see any mad rush to change the retirement age back then – most guys went back out and looked for new jobs.
There is something very sad that the guys retiring don’t seem to understand -- having an airline job is not the only job around nor is it their divine right to have one. If they need the money, there are other jobs out there both flying and non-flying. In fact, due to the crappy pay and volatility at most of the legacies now, I would say that well over 50% of the co-pilots I fly with are working on alternate professions. Why are the senior guys immune to this fact? Yes, the industry has changed. Since the senior guys have experienced some bad luck; instead of making some positive changes to the profession like getting better pay and retirements, now look for an easy target and are seeking to take out their aggression on the lower part of the seniority list. Their agenda is not only to completely erase an upper retirement age, but to keep their low seniority numbers and high paying jobs intact. Make no mistake about it, this is class warfare pitting pilots against pilots – the have’s verses the have not’s.
Moreover, this has got to be one of the most poorly planned out pieces of legislation to ever hit the airlines. Watch out junior guys – a new b-scale is coming to an airline near you -- courtesy of the senior captains that want to abrogate our seniority lists and hold on to their high paying jobs another 5 plus years.
Here are a few unknowns these guys don’t have any idea of the impact to our careers:
1. Seniority progression – How will basically eliminating any retirements for five years or more impact the lower ¾ of the seniority list? Junior crewmembers at slow or shrinking airlines will be hit especially hard. SWA, don’t think your immune. You’re losing most of your hedges next year. The end result is many guys will find themselves working the additional five years just to make back the money they lost in the first place due to delayed promotions and stagnation. The guys sitting in the most senior seats will be the lotto winners in all of this and will come at the junior guy’s expense.
2. Retirements – How will the early-out penalties work out in coming contracts?
3. Pay – You think our historically high pay scales are due to management liking us – no – it’s due mainly to the age 60 retirement. Stretch out the retirement age and watch the pressure to either reduce our wages outright or continue to let inflation eat away at them.
4. Safety – Common sense dictates that our flying skills diminish as we age. As much as we want to believe we can fly forever, all you got to do is pick up a newspaper to see how American’s are more overweight and out of shape on a national average than ever. Are there some guys that can make it – Sure – but this national law must be written for the lowest common denominator. Our commercial aviation safety demands it.
5. Lawsuits – What happens to the poor SOB that misses the age change by one day or for that matter find themselves in the 60-65 bracket when the retirement changes. We all better count on a class action lawsuit from this group for them to get back on the property. I, for one, think they have a pretty good shot at winning. If they are successful, then where and to what job, position or seniority numbers do they come back to?
6. Union cohesiveness – This law will be one of the most divisive since B-scale hit in the 80’s. At carriers where there has been basically no progression for the last five years and then adding on another five years of stagnation will make for especially ugly relations and low morale between the senior and junior.
7. Longevity -- How will flying an additional five years of all-nighters and spending five more years in a stress filled environment impact our golden years? Is this the fly to you die rule.
I’m not trying to change the older guy’s viewpoint on this. I can’t. Their selfishness and greed are too much for them to clearly see the long term implications to the industry. All they can see are the dollars in their wallets. What they can’t see is the economic harm they are seeking to impose on both the lower part of the seniority list and the profession itself.
If you don’t like the fraud the senior guy’s are attempting to pull, then write your Congressman and the FAA. Let them know your thoughts. This can be defeated.
Age 65 -- good for a few and bad for the many.
AA767AV8TOR
