TWU Reaches TA with company!

[Buck]

$13,000 would go a long way in paying your primary Medicare premiums after retirement as well. For my parents that's about $180 a month apiece.

My Medicare premiums are a little less than that. But I am not 65 or over. I think mine are $115 a month

 

[Birdman]

My Medicare premiums are a little less than that. But I am not 65 or over. I think mine are $115 a month

Your referring to your Medicare Tax, 1.4% of gross. After you retire and draw Medicare, age 67 for me, you will have to pay premiums.

 

[Bob Owens]

Bob, I know I sometimes appear just a bit cynical, but do we know for a fact that the company actually set aside the matching funds? Maybe that's some of their "un/under" funded pension obligations. It could be the reason they are so anxious to terminate the retiree medical.

And, if they did set aside the money, do we know that a bk court would give us even all of our money back, much less the company's contribution?

Jim, this is different from a DB pension, it's more Ike a 401 k and according to the terms of the agreement the company has to match the funds by the end of the month. The agreement can be seen on the local 562 website, wwwtwu562.org. That would be the TWU agreement, I do not know what the APFA agreement is.

This is a trust fund, supposedly safe in BK. It would not be up to the Judge.

 

[jimntx]

Thanks for the explanation, but do we know for a fact that the money is in the trust fund? Imagine everyone's shock if it turned out that the company had never actually put any money in the pot.

 

[Buck]

Your referring to your Medicare Tax, 1.4% of gross. After you retire and draw Medicare, age 67 for me, you will have to pay premiums.

No I am on Medicare for my Kidney Failure. My quarterly premium payment is $346.20. I had not even consider that I am still paying the tax you are referring to.

 

[Frank Szabo]

Thanks for the explanation, but do we know for a fact that the money is in the trust fund? Imagine everyone's shock if it turned out that the company had never actually put any money in the pot.

Are you suggesting the company took lessons from Congress re: the Social Security "Trust" Fund?

 

[john john]

But most I talk with have zero trust that AA management would not file BK on top of the Yes vote on the TA and still take more on top of this concession. And they sure fail to see that as a reason to vote YES. They just cannot see what you are talking about here and never will.

USAirways has seen this action twice

 

[eolesen]

USAirways has seen this action twice

Yes, but under the old law. There's more of a "show cause" required for abrogation now than there was prior to 2005. It's only my opinion, but I don't think double dipping is going to be as easy as it was before.

 

[jimntx]

Are you suggesting the company took lessons from Congress re: the Social Security "Trust" Fund?

There is a difference. At one time within my lifetime, there was actually money in the SS Trust Fund. It was only a few years ago relatively speaking that Congress decided to take the money with a promise to "pay it back later." Have we any documentation that the company ever put money in the trust fund, or just said they did/will? "I will gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today."

 

[Veritas]

Wrong thread.

 

[Flying low]

Wrong thread.

Doesn't matter, after a while all these threads run the same course

 

[Bob Owens]

Thanks for the explanation, but do we know for a fact that the money is in the trust fund? Imagine everyone's shock if it turned out that the company had never actually put any money in the pot.

Well according to JPMorgan it is.

 

[jimntx]

I guess since I own stock in JPM, I have to say that is good enough for me. I wasn't aware that JPM was where the pre-funding money was kept.

 

[Mr Red]

Well according to JPMorgan it is.

Just got my balance from JP Morgan/Chase ,my contribution balance is 9000.00 The company match is supposedly in a separate account controlled by AA.
Seems like this info should be readily availiable through Jetnet,Bob maybe you can find out why it isn't.

 

[Bob Owens]

Just got my balance from JP Morgan/Chase ,my contribution balance is 9000.00 The company match is supposedly in a separate account controlled by AA.
Seems like this info should be readily availiable through Jetnet,Bob maybe you can find out why it isn't.

Right now you have $18'000 put away in a trust and as long as you continue to prefund you will not have to pay for medical coverage when you retire. If he company decides to terminate prefunding you retain the whole fund. What the company wants us to agree to is give them back the match, that's our money, part of our compensation that we have earned since we started Prefunding. So for around $6000 today, of your own money, you would lose around $12000 plus if you dont retire till 65 and live to 80 it will likely cost you an additional $90,000. So in other words you would lose around $100,000.

Pretty steep price to pay for an increase that doesn't even come close to inflation (9% / 7. 5 years = 1.2 %). The lump sum, 6% of base comes out to around $2500, a fraction of the Prefunding match. This isn't a cost neutral contract for the company, between the matches, the headcount cuts, the rewritten ot rules and the liabilities they get to write off they will have lower labor costs than they do now.