Hello Blueeagle, folks in your situation are in a very tiny minority, and you had the advantages that the 60 rule gave you early on in your career. You are trying to take advantage of both situations. What is rightfully yours right now is to retire at age 60. And it is always about the money!
Now I know my posts are long, and apparently people are not taking the time to read all that I write. I don’t have a problem with increasing the age to which we are allowed to fly. Like I have mentioned the situation has already changed in my country. What I don’t agree with is the changing of our contracts to immediately reflect this rule change. I want people to be honorable enough to clear out when the date that they signed up for comes around at my airline and others; your pension is based on this principle. Nothing stopping anyone here in Europe from continuing their career somewhere else, except a pay cut and inconvenience in having to learn new procedures. But these people are apparently so sharp that this should pose no problem. But this is not what they want. They want it all.
MPH, Martinair I presume. Was seconded to your airline for about seven months back in 1994, good people, and I really enjoyed myself. But as long as the VNV has any input into this situation you will see the age of 60 being reinforced at your airline. Only last year the Dutch courts once again upheld this principle, and acknowledged the hardships an age increase would have on the junior members of our respective companies. And in the most recent contract negotiations the pension age of 56 at KLM was upheld, even though the present government went a long way in making an “early” retirement as unattractive as possible. The age that you have to leave at is not arbitrary it is a contractual obligation between you and the company. You have known about this day for as long as you have been flying. So it can’t come as a great surprise, and for us here in Holland it can’t pose a particular hardship, since our pensions are well funded and assured. But good luck in your endeavors, just don’t count on the VNV helping you out in this situation. I think it is fair to my colleagues for me to bow out at the age that I knew was coming for a long time. But solidarity is no longer something that our western society appreciates, it is a dog eat dog world out there I guess.
Gr. O.
Last edited by Otterman; 17th Sep 2005 at 08:14.