Forget the Age thing !!
I am not sure why we should be considering the possible legislated age 65 retirement age.
IF and it is a big IF they force the co. into age 65 ,it will have to be on whatever scale people are on. The reason being, to lower scales after retirement is legislated would be deemed age discrimination. ie you cannot pay someone less to do a job because they are older. The current extendees may even have a legal argument that they were forced to do just that.
So bearing in mind the age 65 should come with the current scales (ie legally the co. should pay A to A scalers and B to B scalers etc.) What we are agreeing to is :
1) reduce the earnings of New DEFOs
2) accept a insignificant pay raise. In some cases N. America NONE !
3) Fly the freighter (with the freighter crewing rules and patterns)
4) Agree to work for the same dollar value with no inflationary adjustment for the near future.
IT IS PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THE WE HAVE TO VOTE NO NO NO!! We get very very little and give up ALOT long before we have to.
Some suggestions :
1) If we are going to fly freighters it should be on PAX cos and crewing rules. However as long as there are still ASL captains there still exists a possibility of safety issues with crewing and therefore the freighter crewing agreement is still necessary.
2) Stop the insulting practise of pay increases for some and not for all. At some point we all deserve a raise regardless of how far our money goes in our home country.
3) remove the requirement to go on COS 08 (or whatever it ends up being 09,10 etc) when a base is forced into 65.
4) make by pass pay a written policy with guidelines and time frames written down. ie You will be assessed within 1 year of our expected need for a command course. or better yet, the co. should assess a guaranteed number of pilots per year until those disadvantaged et their command (ok dreaming a little there !!)
Other than that there is nothing wrong !!!!
One more note on the age thing. The current practice of extending (not withstanding the pay scale on which the extension is given, and the picking and choosing) , could be argued meets the legal requirement to offer age 65 retirement.
WHAT HAPPENED TO JUST GETTING THE PAY RISE WE DESERVE WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED ? WHY THE FEAR MONGERING RE: AGE 65 ?
So what is the rush ??????????