LAZYB
Time wounds all heels.
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[font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial]Pilots peer ahead at losses[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial]United Airlines pension ruling will force retirees back to work, some say[/font][/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL
[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial]
For Clyde House, the phone calls and e-mails haven't stopped coming. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]The former United Airlines pilot, who headed the Las Vegas chapter of the Retired United Pilots Association from 1999 to 2004, said nearly 30 local retired and active pilots have contacted him since United received permission Tuesday from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to default on a $9.8 billion pension shortfall. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]One call that House fielded Wednesday morning came from a former Boeing 747 captain who expects his monthly pension income to drop from $14,000 to $2,800. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Another former pilot called House on Wednesday and said he's "already unloading his Corvette." Other pilots face giving up their homes, House said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"This is going to be devastating to a lot of pilots here in Las Vegas," House said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"I would hope they will stay in town, but there's a good possibility many of them won't. There's no better place to live than Las Vegas, but there are cheaper places to live." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Those less costly markets might be more attractive to pilots following Tuesday's court decision. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]As part of its effort to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy later this year, executives of Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based United asked to place the company's pension burden on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a federal agency that insures the retirement plans of major companies that have failed. Bankruptcy Court Judge Eugene Wedoff approved United's request, but the pension corporation will pay out only $6.6 billion of United's $9.8 billion obligation, which means many United workers' retirement income will be slashed. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Representatives of the United affiliate of the national Air Line Pilots Association wouldn't comment for this story, but Richard Bouska, president of the Foster City, Calif.-based Retired United Pilots Association, said the extent of pension loss will vary depending on a pilot's age, how many years he worked for the airline and the size of plane he flew. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska said federal law requires airline pilots to retire at age 60, but the government's pension corporation penalizes all workers who retire before age 65. The benefit difference: about $1,300 a month. Bouska said people who retired at 60 in 2004 received a maximum benefit of $2,404, compared to $3,699 for those retiring at 65. In addition, he predicted that pilots of jumbo jets such as the Boeing 747 who retire today will lose as much as 75 percent of their retirement benefit. Pilots predict the financial pain will spread. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Retired United pilot and Las Vegas resident Barry Dixon said other airlines are likely to follow United's lead and ask the federal government to assume their pensions. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"With the dropping of United's pension being OK'd, Delta, Northwest, Continental and perhaps others will be in a position to say they need to do the same thing to compete," Dixon said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]The effects could reverberate across the local economy, pilots said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]House estimated that 120 active United pilots and as many as 600 retired pilots from all the national airlines live in Las Vegas. Their annual incomes range from $40,000 for a co-captain of a smaller jet to $240,000 for a captain of a jumbo jet. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]United flight attendants also might need to contend with significant declines in pensions and salaries. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]MaryAnne Houser, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union at United's Las Vegas station, said the 211 United flight attendants based in Las Vegas, as well as about 30 retired local flight attendants, will watch their pensions fall by as much as two-thirds under a federal government takeover of their retirement plan. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]That's on top of substantial salary reductions United flight attendants have endured in the last two years. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]House, whose wife, Marie Loquet, was a United flight attendant for 32 years, said the airline's attendants were earning $40,000 to $60,000 a year before two pay cuts totaling 50 percent. The first, a salary slashing of 40 percent, went into effect in September 2003; a second reduction of 10 percent was implemented in December 2004. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"These are people with good incomes who support casinos, restaurants and services," House said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"This is going to make a difference in the local economy." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Dixon agreed. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"I'm sure this will hit local businesses, not only because of pensions for retired workers but because of the current airline employees who are taking big hits pay-wise," Dixon said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"How it will play out down the line is hard to determine, but I can see some fairly serious impact on grocery stores, furniture stores, housing and car dealers." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Dixon, who flew for United for 31 years until he retired in 1996, said he'll soon feel those effects himself. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Dixon estimated that his pension payment under the new plan would drop 30 percent a month as early as June. He said he's now looking to downsize from the 3,500-square-foot home he and his wife, Ruth, have owned for more than four years near Farm Road and Tenaya Way in northwest Las Vegas. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"There's a remote possibility we'd have to leave (Las Vegas), but with the increase in value of our present home, we're hoping we can buy something smaller here at a fairly reasonable price," Dixon said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Gerald Johnson, a retired United pilot living in Henderson, said his monthly pension income could drop as much as 60 percent. Johnson, who retired in 2003 after 34 years with the airline, said he's still contemplating how the reduced pay will affect his lifestyle. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"We just don't know what we're going to have to do" to maintain our retirement, Johnson said. House said some pilots might have to return to work in second careers. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"I'm 72, and I'd hate to think of having to go back to work," said House, who added that his own pension wouldn't decrease noticeably because of his more advanced age. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"It's especially hard for pilots who develop medical problems over the years. It's just unthinkable that these guys will have to return to work, though I'm sure some will have to." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska said the retired pilots association has retained attorneys to represent their interests during United's bankruptcy proceedings. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"It's not over yet; there's still some court work to do," Bouska said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"But it's not looking good." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska also lamented the performance of United's management, asserting that bankruptcy was never an inevitability for the airline despite the ravages that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, took on the air transportation sector. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"United Airlines used to be considered the 800-pound gorilla," he said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"It could do no wrong. It had tremendous cash flow, but (executives) frittered it away attempting to start a small charter-jet service and trying to buy US Airways at an extremely inflated price. That's $700 million to $800 million needlessly spent." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska said that 30 years ago, all the airline's employees "felt United Airlines was their company, and they would have done anything for it. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"People today still feel United is their company, but they also feel the management is against them. I would ask anyone to ask themselves how they would feel if their company took half their retirement away from them. Would they be all smiles and say it was just fine?"[/font]
[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial]United Airlines pension ruling will force retirees back to work, some say[/font][/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL
[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial]
For Clyde House, the phone calls and e-mails haven't stopped coming. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]The former United Airlines pilot, who headed the Las Vegas chapter of the Retired United Pilots Association from 1999 to 2004, said nearly 30 local retired and active pilots have contacted him since United received permission Tuesday from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to default on a $9.8 billion pension shortfall. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]One call that House fielded Wednesday morning came from a former Boeing 747 captain who expects his monthly pension income to drop from $14,000 to $2,800. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Another former pilot called House on Wednesday and said he's "already unloading his Corvette." Other pilots face giving up their homes, House said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"This is going to be devastating to a lot of pilots here in Las Vegas," House said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"I would hope they will stay in town, but there's a good possibility many of them won't. There's no better place to live than Las Vegas, but there are cheaper places to live." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Those less costly markets might be more attractive to pilots following Tuesday's court decision. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]As part of its effort to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy later this year, executives of Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based United asked to place the company's pension burden on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a federal agency that insures the retirement plans of major companies that have failed. Bankruptcy Court Judge Eugene Wedoff approved United's request, but the pension corporation will pay out only $6.6 billion of United's $9.8 billion obligation, which means many United workers' retirement income will be slashed. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Representatives of the United affiliate of the national Air Line Pilots Association wouldn't comment for this story, but Richard Bouska, president of the Foster City, Calif.-based Retired United Pilots Association, said the extent of pension loss will vary depending on a pilot's age, how many years he worked for the airline and the size of plane he flew. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska said federal law requires airline pilots to retire at age 60, but the government's pension corporation penalizes all workers who retire before age 65. The benefit difference: about $1,300 a month. Bouska said people who retired at 60 in 2004 received a maximum benefit of $2,404, compared to $3,699 for those retiring at 65. In addition, he predicted that pilots of jumbo jets such as the Boeing 747 who retire today will lose as much as 75 percent of their retirement benefit. Pilots predict the financial pain will spread. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Retired United pilot and Las Vegas resident Barry Dixon said other airlines are likely to follow United's lead and ask the federal government to assume their pensions. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"With the dropping of United's pension being OK'd, Delta, Northwest, Continental and perhaps others will be in a position to say they need to do the same thing to compete," Dixon said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]The effects could reverberate across the local economy, pilots said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]House estimated that 120 active United pilots and as many as 600 retired pilots from all the national airlines live in Las Vegas. Their annual incomes range from $40,000 for a co-captain of a smaller jet to $240,000 for a captain of a jumbo jet. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]United flight attendants also might need to contend with significant declines in pensions and salaries. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]MaryAnne Houser, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union at United's Las Vegas station, said the 211 United flight attendants based in Las Vegas, as well as about 30 retired local flight attendants, will watch their pensions fall by as much as two-thirds under a federal government takeover of their retirement plan. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]That's on top of substantial salary reductions United flight attendants have endured in the last two years. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]House, whose wife, Marie Loquet, was a United flight attendant for 32 years, said the airline's attendants were earning $40,000 to $60,000 a year before two pay cuts totaling 50 percent. The first, a salary slashing of 40 percent, went into effect in September 2003; a second reduction of 10 percent was implemented in December 2004. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"These are people with good incomes who support casinos, restaurants and services," House said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"This is going to make a difference in the local economy." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Dixon agreed. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"I'm sure this will hit local businesses, not only because of pensions for retired workers but because of the current airline employees who are taking big hits pay-wise," Dixon said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"How it will play out down the line is hard to determine, but I can see some fairly serious impact on grocery stores, furniture stores, housing and car dealers." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Dixon, who flew for United for 31 years until he retired in 1996, said he'll soon feel those effects himself. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Dixon estimated that his pension payment under the new plan would drop 30 percent a month as early as June. He said he's now looking to downsize from the 3,500-square-foot home he and his wife, Ruth, have owned for more than four years near Farm Road and Tenaya Way in northwest Las Vegas. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"There's a remote possibility we'd have to leave (Las Vegas), but with the increase in value of our present home, we're hoping we can buy something smaller here at a fairly reasonable price," Dixon said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Gerald Johnson, a retired United pilot living in Henderson, said his monthly pension income could drop as much as 60 percent. Johnson, who retired in 2003 after 34 years with the airline, said he's still contemplating how the reduced pay will affect his lifestyle. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"We just don't know what we're going to have to do" to maintain our retirement, Johnson said. House said some pilots might have to return to work in second careers. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"I'm 72, and I'd hate to think of having to go back to work," said House, who added that his own pension wouldn't decrease noticeably because of his more advanced age. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"It's especially hard for pilots who develop medical problems over the years. It's just unthinkable that these guys will have to return to work, though I'm sure some will have to." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska said the retired pilots association has retained attorneys to represent their interests during United's bankruptcy proceedings. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"It's not over yet; there's still some court work to do," Bouska said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"But it's not looking good." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska also lamented the performance of United's management, asserting that bankruptcy was never an inevitability for the airline despite the ravages that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, took on the air transportation sector. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"United Airlines used to be considered the 800-pound gorilla," he said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"It could do no wrong. It had tremendous cash flow, but (executives) frittered it away attempting to start a small charter-jet service and trying to buy US Airways at an extremely inflated price. That's $700 million to $800 million needlessly spent." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Bouska said that 30 years ago, all the airline's employees "felt United Airlines was their company, and they would have done anything for it. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]"People today still feel United is their company, but they also feel the management is against them. I would ask anyone to ask themselves how they would feel if their company took half their retirement away from them. Would they be all smiles and say it was just fine?"[/font]
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