Now, Bob, look at this only as an AMT, not as a unionist. You would really rather a CC be selected soley on seniority or senority plus a basic test? Maybe straight interview and management selection isn't quite the answer either, see Joe Sagginario, Bob Nygard, Joe Daly, Mike Mckanna, Dave Richards, Virginia Nieves, Andrea Ferrara, Glen Risbrook, Tim Ahern, Brian Troy, Ginny White, and much more of JFK manaement alone, but these are leadership positions which can't just be handed out to the most senior AMT.
DB pensions are (and have been) a pyramid scheme that require more workers coming in than going out to collect. No different than Amway, "investment club scams", or Madoff. In a diminishing workforce, which is where we are now, they are not sustainable. Going back over 15 years it has been obvious that the DB plans, and frankly Social Security, won't be there for us so anyone that has not been saving and investing for their own future either is a fool or has accepted that our parents were the last generation that will retire. My belief is that we will be working to the day we die, but I choose to save when I can and invest anyway so maybe I am fool too since I clearly chase the dream. In fact back in 2010 I seem to recall you saying yourself that the company would find a way to dumnp the pension either way as one of your reasons for being against the deal. Since you wisely knew this was coming why is a shock now? Haven't you been preparing for this inevitability?
As much I usually don't support unions or strikes, why didn't everyone, or even half of the M&R group, just quit then? OK, your right PFAA has the curent case law that in bankruptcy you can't strike so just quit in mass. As far as I know slavery is still illegal so you can quit. Who knows, maybe it would've turned out differnetly.
No Bob, it is not, what bankruptcy law does is put the only priority maximizing the repayment of debt. Nothing else matters, not me, not you, not the shareholders, not the unions, and not the retirees, only the creditors. As a matter of law once a company files chapter 11 everything ele becomes secondary to getting as much back to the creditors as possible. It doesn't matter if everyone of us were let go, if our pensions get frozen, dumped on the PBGC (though then they become a creditor), we take massive pay cuts, nothing, we DO NOT MATTER, only the creditors do. Like it or not this is what happened. I didn't realy want this merger and I still don't think it's a great idea, but guess what? Every last penny will be returned to the creditors and even the shareholders will likely get their value returned so whether I like it or not this was the right way for it to play out. The process worked as intended, did I get screwed? Maybe. Did you get screwed? Maybe. Did the creditors get everything back? Yes, and that is the ONLY thing that matters.
The sad reality, and you have said the same thing many times yourself, is that we could all leave tomorrow and do much better. As you have agreed with me, we saw this at NW in 2005. As we have both seen recently, people are packing it in every day for greener pastures. So why are we still here? Frankly many of us still suffer from Shiny Jet Syndrome, I know I do. I have said it many times, we didn't get into this business for the money, let's face it the money hasn't been here in decades if it ever was. We got into this crazy game becasue we liked aviation, becasue we suffer from Shiny Jet Syndrome. Again, I say it every day, I'm not here for the money, never have been, I could walk tomorrow and double my income just as I am sure you could. Why are you still here? I don't know, but I suspect you also suffer from Shiny Jet Syndrome, you just don't accept that you do. 🙂
