Didn't Prater say he only wanted his payrate he would get at Continental when he was running? Wonder what he's taking in now?
His campaign website stated he would accept whatever pay the BOD voted and provided....
http://kcerds.dol-esa.gov/query/
Look up ALPA
File number.. 000-179
He makes about 500K including expenses...ect.
Maybe he is just showing what all airline pilots should make...but do not.
He makes 295K and 170K is in expenses.
So if your company counted your per deim and hotel expenses as part of your income, where would that put most pilots? In addition, union officers have to pay taxes on compensation and the expenses. So Prater will pay personal income tax on the 170K as well as the 295K.
So imagine your company each year came up with a value for the hotel stays each night you were on a pairing. (say 80K for a year) The company then combined that with your per deim (20K) and reported it to the IRS as income. Now the IRS wants to you pay taxes on the 100K in addition to your "normal income", which might put you in the next tax bracket.
Let's not lose sight of the tactic here.....
At the 2006BOD and recently the 2008BOD ALPA Prez compensation was just not discussed. The BOD is the forum to make the changes.
Every minute Prez pay is discussed out in the open like this, management enjoys us infighting. It is time taken away from dealing with the real threats.
The point? Get informed on how the compensation is structured. It is not approx $480K in pocket. Its 295K gross but taxes are paid in the 495K bracket.
I am not saying his pay should not be modified, but there were forums to do this and nothing was done. The next one is BOD2010, a year and half away. Plenty of time to get informed and make a case for pay changes...
Also keep in mind your LEC officers, they too have to pay taxes out of their pocket on expenses they incur.. this is usually expenses for the entire LEC.