Thanks for your sensible comments. Yes, this is the airline industry after all. An industry littered with the carcasses of many failures. Why have there been so, so many failures? I can’t really say because I, like you, work in the pointy end of an airplane where failure is not an option; and not in some office somewhere crunching numbers, buying fuel futures, planning marketing strategy, negotiating supply contracts or whatever it is that all those managers, directors, vice-presidents, executive officers, chief executive officers, etc., do as part of their job description.Fanblade wrote: Due to the time factor, the risk of a solvency issue with the plan sponsor, or risk of OFSI involvement (distressed pension plan “workout scheme”) is much much different for a thirtysomething than a sixtysomething.
This is the airline industry after all. ...
I am reminded of the time in another life when the President and CEO of Canadian Regional Airlines sat himself down in the jumpseat of my Canadian Airlines aircraft and with a satisfied smile on his face asked: “So, how are things at Canadian Airlines these days?” Now this was a time when our company was losing money, we worker bees were living with many concessions including a 15% pay cut, and when certain executives were paying themselves 6-figure bonuses (required to retain good people, of course). So I looked this guy in the eye and told him the truth as I saw it: “If we pilots flew our airplanes the way you management types fly your mahogany bombers, then you’d have a hundred smoking holes at the end of the runway this morning and that’d be the end of the airline.” A bit of a conversation stopper and kind of rude of me, I suppose, but by that time in the life cycle of Canadian Airlines I had had enough of being made out to be the bad guy in the operation. Because quite the opposite, in my view we pilots represent the single most significant cog in the operation and the glue that holds it all together.
But I digress. The Suits may not appreciate us but please note: they appreciate themselves; and they look after themselves – exceedingly well. They do so on the backs of the revenue we produce with each passenger we safely move from A to B. If we pilots were to hand them a hull loss once a month, in short order we’d have no passengers and none of us would have a job. But we do our job – expertly. Their job – which for the most part they seem to do not very well - is to generate, with each seat, the revenue required to make the business profitable.
The Suits easily justify to themselves $500,000+ pensions (indexed), easily justify “credited service” to inflate those pensions; but your $120,000 (small, by comparison) pension that you had to work 30-35 years of Real service is now too expensive for the company to maintain? Sorry, but I’m not that easily persuaded.
That’s not to say that I don’t recognize that the airline has some real problems. I’m saying that as long as the feed trough at the top is considered by the Suits to be full enough to keep them in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed, don’t waste your time complaining to me about how expensive I am.
Sorry, I didn’t intend to start off on this rant, it’s not really productive, but even as a Retired Guy, sometimes I really get annoyed with the antics of management. If you don’t take a stand with them you’ll be forever moving backwards.
Here’s some info on the distressed pension plan “working scheme” to which you referred. Take a look here: http://www.mcmillan.ca/Files/118845_Dis ... n_0111.pdf
I’m outa here to hit some balls and quaff an ale or two.
Cheers,
Nor have I been privy to the conversations with, or the letter from, the gov't.
