That is why a DB pension is called Golden Handcuffs.
Plated at best.
I still think that giving up what we did "to save the pension" was a big mistake. First of all we didnt save anything except the jobs of the executives who put us in the position we are in and their cozy deal with the TWU where they get a $3.1 million kickback from the company for being "cooperative".
"Saving the pension" was just a fear mongering slogan to get what they wanted. By keeping the pension they got to keep their expenses lower and retain a valuable tool for keeping their labor costs lower in the future.
If offered the $203,000 for a buyout I'd take it in an instant before I'd trust the company and their promises of keeping the pension. Having our pension in this management teams hand is not a wise move, the more portability we can establish the better off we are. Once they no longer have that hanging over us a lot more people would be willing to do what needs to be done to retosre our wages and benifits.
I'm not one of these guys that claim that we should all "be in control of our own retirements", I feel we should keep SS as it is and not be pushed into throwing it into the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time-the Stock Market but I have come to the realization that most corporations have no intent on keeping their promises, no matter how much, like Arpey, say they want to. I think the man is a flat out liar.
There are different types of businessmen out there, there are the entrepreneurs, like Kelleher, who build companies and reward the workers that help make them successful. Often these entrepreneurs dont have MBAs, they have emotional intelligence, drive, ethics and relate well to people, the companies they run provide everything that a corporation should, a good service, good employment and a return for the investor. Then you have the mercenary, void of the previosly mentioned attributes, equiped with an MBA and a lot of bullshit theory that equates human beings as no more than a different type of Capital, living breathing pork bellies, sheep, broken down into numbers and formula, to them there is no difference between an airline and a fast food chain. They have no love for anything but whatever they can extract over a three or four year period, they may work here this year, over at Walmart next, it makes no difference. They come in with fake plans and initiatives for "change" and a bunch of tired slogans and must laugh to themselves as the saps just soak it all up, "Turn Around Plan", "Pull Together Win Together", "Do the Right Thing", all right out of PT Barnums handbook, sad thing is, it works every time! These slicksters, like Arpey are selling a line that "We are all in this Together", but leaving out the fact that what he is doing is taking every thing he can from us and stuffing whatever he can into his own pockets, and those of his friends like that Horton guy. (What industry did Horton return to us from? See what I mean about these guys.)
They politely hide their true intent, to rob us of a fair value for what they want from us, by trying to make it seem that the boogiemen are all on the outside. "JetBlue is trying to harm your family!!!! WE have to beat them!" as they slash your pay and medical benifits. The truth is that Jet Blue is working for the same people that AA and every other carrier is working for-the people that own the airplanes and facilities and Capital the airlines use. They are still making tons of money, and as long as we all sit in separate unions run by corrupt officials and keep them flying they will continue to make tons of money, and we will continue to lose. In the meantime the Arpeys will collect their fees, chant out their slogans and come up with with one phony initiative after the other.