Frustration is an understatement for how I feel. For close to two years we have been negotiating with the Company. While some progress has been made we are far short of where we need to be in my opinion. Today that frustration boiled over when I attended the Jeff Smisek town hall meeting in IAD. What follows is an exchange with a 32 year ramp service employee;
(what follows is not verbatim but close)
A ramp serviceman approached the mic and asked the question "I have 32 years with the company and would be retiring in a couple of weeks if the pension plan had not been terminated, so my question is will there be a return to a pension plan at United Airlines?"
Jeff Smisek "No. There will not be a return to a defined benefit pension plan at United. While I am committed to all employees' retirement security, the PBGC would have a fit if we made a new plan because of what old United did when they abandoned their previous obligations."
Brothers and Sisters, first he obviously doesn't understand that legally the five year ban on a new plan ends at the beginning of next year, and second why don't we deserve a pension? To say "we've been through the mill" doesn't come close to describing the abuse we've endured. What sort of annuity plan will he be offered at the end of his tenure? After all isn't that just a variation of a defined benefit plan? Why does he deserve that and you get another sharp stick in the eye?
Forget frustration, as I write this that emotion is turning to anger. We deserve better. We've paid over and over for our opportunity to improve our livelihoods. To ask that we have a pension is not outrageous. It is the least this Company can provide.
Tell your supervisors, managers and anyone else that will listen. THERE WILL BE NO AGREEMENT WITHOUT A PENSION!
