December 7, a date that will live in infamy at NJ.

[imacdog]

Those who would have been elegible for retirement health care before the scheduled expiration of the 2005 CBA had the option of retaining those benefits if they wished. It is a down side but apparently the benefits we did have were pretty minimal to start with.

 

[Dr Pepper]

So, it seems like the biggest downside to this TA is the retirement health care?

I'm guessing the no votes came from the super senior guys who gained no money and lost health care after retirement?

No votes came from several reasons. My opinion only is the reserve schedule, H days, and vacation vs the new 18 day fixed, no H days and reduced vacation was the driving force behind no votes.

Some voted no because they still feel there is a division without HBA for all. On this similar section, some were hurt by the watered down HBA rights.

Some voted no, because they think we could have done better in Section 6 or IBB 2.0

Some voted no because of the duration and the lack of COLA adjustments to the base scales.

Some voted no for a really dumb reason, "I did not want the vote to pass by a landslide." Yes I actually heard this twice. This is the only reason I cannot respect.

 

[gunfyter]

I would have voted No for all the above reasons but I voted Yes to get rid of the Domiciles. Mostly I hate the new schedules... except for the 7&7....

I would like the flex if we had one set of h-days to schedule doctor's appointments etc..

 

[CaveoFalco]

So, it seems like the biggest downside to this TA is the retirement health care?

I'm guessing the no votes came from the super senior guys who gained no money and lost health care after retirement?

What do you for health care when you retire? Save your bucks and pay cash?

This was probably not the issue that people may think. The affected people had a choice - bonus or retiree medical bridge. They chose the bonus by a 4 to 1 margin.

A point that is often confused, the retiree medical in the 2005 CBA was a bridge from retirement from NJA to Medicare and not a retiree medical program past that. It was probably a 2-3 year program for most. It had significant caps and bills incurred before retirement counted against that cap. If you left NJA prior to retirement, for whatever reason, all the money that you contributed to across time at NJA is gone. There are better options that will probably be explored if/when the pilots decide to give IBT the boot.