ALPA to take more in dues

[lucky81698]

Do you think ALPA will credit the recent hires (last couple of years) at CAL the money they have been taking all along? I hardly think so! I don't understand why the ALPA national president and board don't take paycuts? I believe he makes somewhere around $500,000 a year!

[Kristie]

They're having the same conversation over on JC.

ALPA National Officers and Employees Salaries - jetcareers

something to check out if you like staying well informed.

[roz]

I love this comment to you (which you already knew):

First, Kristie, the guys that lost their A-funds (what you call "pensions") aren't going to be affected by this. Doug lost his A-fund, but he still has a pension. His B-fund is considered a pension. So, nothing will change for Doug or any other pilot who lost his A-fund. They've already been paying dues based off of gross income that includes 401(k) contributions. Nothing new here for the Delta pilots. This will only affect the guys at the smaller carriers that don't have A-funds or B-funds.

What does that mean? That just because Doug isn't impacted you should not care about those who have no other pension paying dues on the amount they are deferring to their 401(k)? Those guys at the "smaller carriers" are often poorly paid. So, this gives them less of their paycheck to save for their retirement.

Of course we should care.

Of course the ALPA statement by John Prater, "* Making 401(k) deferrals subject to dues will not reduce a pilot’s 401(k) contribution, and there will be no dues on company contributions to 401(k) plans; " does not speak to this. Let's say a pilot makes $30,000/yr and finds they can currently squeek by with a 3% contribution and still pay their bills. Now, if ALPA takes dues from the 3% they will have to reduce their contribution because, the bottom line is that they still have to pay their bills.

[HeffsRah]

Originally Posted by roz

Of course the ALPA statement by John Prater, "* Making 401(k) deferrals subject to dues will not reduce a pilot’s 401(k) contribution, and there will be no dues on company contributions to 401(k) plans; " does not speak to this. Let's say a pilot makes $30,000/yr and finds they can currently squeek by with a 3% contribution and still pay their bills. Now, if ALPA takes dues from the 3% they will have to reduce their contribution because, the bottom line is that they still have to pay their bills.

What a dumb statement by him. DF and I were JUST talking about this. We were wanting to start his 401(k) but already were thinking it was going to be hard...now, who the heck knows what will happen. You're absolutely right, Roz, bottom line is there's bills to pay and if APLA does take 3% dues, thats it for us...at least for now.

[Dana]

Originally Posted by Mistress Trista

Personally, I haven't seen ALPA do anything for the pilots that warrent more money.

Amen sister! Well said.

[sixteen]

this is terrible. considering how the price of living is constantly going up and folks all over are feeling the pinch, these guys want to pull MORE money out of our mens' paychecks? have you seen what the top executives at ALPA make? the pres gets $400K a year! don't you think they should be tightening their belts and balancing their finances like we have to?
that glossy mag that comes every month could be an online newsletter; they'd save money AND trees.
just awful. encourage your ALPA members to write and protest this! It's supposed to be a democracy!!

[roz]

ALPA is trying to explain why it's ok--the 70% should vote to further reduce the incomes of the lowest paid in the union who also do not have any other pension plans other than the 401(k):

Last week, ALPA's vice president of administration, Capt. Bill Couette, and vice president of finance/treasurer, Capt. Randy Helling, taped a video message that explained the reasons behind this recommended change. Since that time, we’ve received several messages from concerned line pilots, and we feel that we need to set the record straight on a few issues.


First, this change would affect only those ALPA members who are not paying dues on their 401(k) contributions. Currently, only pilots at Atlas, Island Air, ASA, ExpressJet, Comair, ASTAR, American Eagle, Gemini, Mesa, Mesaba, Polar, Pinnacle, PSA, Ryan, Sun Country, Spirit, and TSA do not pay dues on their income deferred into 401(k) plans, because their 401(k) is their only retirement plan. Approximately 30 percent of our 45,000 dues-paying members work for these airlines, and total dues paid by pilots at these airlines represent 16 percent of ALPA’s total dues income.


On the other hand, the remaining 70 percent of our dues-paying members—all of whom have a 401(k) plan or Canadian equivalent plan available to them—pay dues on their earnings prior to any 401(k) contributions, if they make such contributions. A “yes” vote will not increase their dues. The disparity in the number of pilots who do and do not pay dues on 401(k) contributions is just one example of the fairness issue raised in previous communications.

Now my thoughts...


So what they are saying to the 70% is to go forward and forget about those with no other pension plans--it doesn't matter because you won't be affected. Forget about the 30% who are in the bottom. They don't matter. Again, we are talking about what it really means. To those making $100,000 per year, adding dues on their 401(k) contribution may not mean much. But to those making $30,000 per year, that may mean that they can't make a contribution at all because there's nothing left after they have given it all to ALPA.

[Kristie]

either way, we're all affected....

they should learn to do with less just like we all have to right now. at least until the correct payscale is restored to the entire aviation industry.

[SFM]

Not sure if this is true but I heard a rumor today that this did not pass!!

[roz]

Yup!

A 2/3rds vote of the Board of Directors was required for it to pass. These are the results:

55.56% FOR
44.44% AGAINST

So it failed.