Age 65 right around corner... 15 year upgrades at SWA!!!

[FlyByNight1]

talked to a senators office this morning. They said this bill is in three places right now, one of which is a stand alone bill as you know- this is to assure passage. According to this senators office, the bill has full support in the senate and will pass. However, they said it will probably not be until mid January some time.

 

[tomgoodman]

Precedents?

No chance of being forced to work over 60 unless the IRS changes some pension rules, like forcing penalties on what may now be called early retirement(60).

That's a real possibility. According to PBGC, Social Security, and Medicare rules, the Feds already consider age 60 to be an early retirement.

 

[PinnacleDude]

My Dad used to call ALPA "The Captains union". Nothing has changed since the old days, except Prater and the top echelon will get to enjoy their exorbitant and outrageous ALPA salaries for another 5 years.

The real problem is that they are not exorbitant or outrageous salaries. When a SWA 737 Captain makes more than Major Airline Widebody Captains, something is seriously wrong. SWA 73 Captains should probably make more, but the pay at the major airlines is outrageously low.

Prater has allowed this to become a tremendous distraction from fixing the above.

 

[nimtz]

ONE LAST thing to for SWA guys remeber SWAPA was for the age 65...

But they had all those wondrous years of slapping Herb on the back and agreeing they didn't need a retirement package like the guys at American.

 

[SpoolDaddy]

Rez, Luv, Flopgut,

All great replies, and Rez, your consistent stance that democracy is not a spectator sport is valid, but from where I sit I really have seen a massive increase in participation in the last 18 months due to the age issue. Unfortunately, ALPA has felt more like a republic than a democracy of late.

Here are a couple of comebacks I have for ALPA:

1. If pilots are allowed to work to 65 and a major reason for this as stated by Capt Prater is due to the post-911 economic meltdown... and we ALPA pilots are ALL about taking care of our brothers.... then any former pilot under 65 who has lost a pension MUST be eligible to be retrained and brought back on the property OR (if this proposal would crush a seniority list, result in furlough, massive training cost, etc) 50% of all wages earned past age 60 go to the ALPA retirees lost-pension fund.

2. No ALPA member works past age 60 on a seniority list that has any furloughed members, unless those furloughees have "passed" on a recall.

3. Over age 60 pilots must transition to the right seat, just as current over-60 pilots must transition to an engineer position (where applicable). This maintains equitable career/seat progression and ensures that one crew-member will be under-60 as required. Most importantly, we keep all that super-safe experience in the cockpit (between naps, anyway) so that the rest of us can still manage to find the airfield, we couldn't have done it without them.

Wow, my Boston-sarcastic roots started showing,
anyway, some thoughts I promise to communicate to my ALPA rep., SD

 

[Flopgut]

Spool I think anything is on the table. B scale wages, half votes, fences, caveates, etc. It's been done before. We've got the majority of votes, let's use it.

 

[Skank]

I've heard that the medical requirements would be a lot harder to pass. So all those old farts would lose there medicals anyways. Anyone else hear about the additional restrictions on the medicals?

I've heard that age discrimination is illegal.

 

[PCL_128]

Yes... ALPA should resist the change. However another question was.. if ALPA cannot stop the change, should ALPA work with the changes or fight it steadfast? (my words). (which way is most influential and effective? Having a seat at the table of change or not being invited to the meeting of change?)

True, but that's not an issue here. Who was the Congressman who introduced this stand-alone bill? James Oberstar, a politician that is as close to a sure thing for ALPA as can ever be hoped for. He is quite possibly the Association's best friend on Cap Hill. Let's just be honest here, Rez: the fact is, Oberstar never would have introduced this bill if Darth Prater had gone to him and told him that the Association was opposed. ALPA has far more pull with Oberstar than any of the pro-change lobbyists. The fact that Oberstar was the one to finally push this through as an independent bill is a clear signal to everyone that this was no longer "something that couldn't be avoided," this is actually something that was requested by Prater or others within ALPA of Congressmen Oberstar. In other words, Prater knows that the membership doesn't want this, but he forced it down their throats anyway using Oberstar to do his dirty work. Prater is self-centered jackass that doesn't give two sh*&s about what the membership thinks about this issue. As far as I'm concerned, he should be recalled.

 

[vetrider]

I've heard that age discrimination is illegal.

Yeah, the new standards will be for everyone. Out of shape folks of all ages will get to retire early now.

Who knows what they will come up with, actually. But I'm not so sure I'd count on the status quo as far as medicals.

 

[jke406]

Out of shape folks of all ages will get to retire early now.
=quote]

wouldn't this affect at least 80% of airline pilots?

 

[vetrider]

Out of shape folks of all ages will get to retire early now.
=quote]

wouldn't this affect at least 80% of airline pilots?

Yes it would by the looks of it. Make that really out of shape folks of all ages will get to retire early.

Alot of guys say that they don't smoke and drink like their elders did, and that they workout and such, but thats only part of the story I think. The other part is the lousy food and supersize portions of absolute garbage the average American eats these days. One thing replaces another.

That said, many guys approaching 60 are obviously good for more years. I'm actually for no age limit and a real physical, even being the mindful of the old adage be careful what you wish for.

It will all come out in the wash, one way or another.

 

[FDJ2]

I've heard that the medical requirements would be a lot harder to pass. So all those old farts would lose there medicals anyways. Anyone else hear about the additional restrictions on the medicals?

There are no additional restrictions on the medicals other than a line check every 6 months for those over 60.

‘‘(1) MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS AND STANDARDS.—Except as provided by paragraph (2), a person serving as a pilot for an air carrier engaged in covered operations shall not be subject to different medical standards, or different, greater, or more frequent medical examinations, on account of age unless the Secretary determines (based on data received or studies published after the date of enactment of this section) that different medical standards, or different, greater, or more frequent medical examinations, are needed to ensure an adequate level of safety in flight.

(2) LINE EVALUATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this section, and every 6 months thereafter, an air carrier engaged in covered operations shall evaluate the performance of each pilot of the air carrier who has attained 60 years of age through a line check of such pilot. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, an air carrier shall not be required to conduct for a 6- month period a line check under this paragraph of a pilot serving as second-in-command if the pilot has undergone a regularly scheduled simulator evaluation during that period.

 

[FDJ2]

Something along the lines of why we ignored the wishes of the majority of our members, couched that in the cloak of "we need to be involved with the process cause it's gonna happen anyway."

You might want to consider that ALPA did have to be involved in the process because it was going to happen anyway. 390-0.

ALPA also polled the membership on what it should do if it became apparent age 60 would change.

The end result is it passed 390-0, and it passed with many of the stipulations ALPA pilots demanded, such as not allowing retired pilots to sue and get back their seniority numbers back, such as no changes to the medical standards, etc.

Do you truly think that ALPA, which only collects PAC money from 14% of its membership, could prevent a unanimous landslide of 390-0.

Even after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor Congress couldn't pass a unanimous vote to declare war.

 

[PCL_128]

FDJ, the bill wouldn't have come forward as stand-alone legislation in the first place if ALPA's buddy Oberstar didn't bring it to the floor. This happened because Prater pushed it. It wasn't "apparent" that it was going to change anyway. This could have been delayed for years to come.

 

[hmmm]

How much longer can we hope for. Just because it will/may pass senate doesn't FAA have to implement it into the rule books.