Originally Posted by robb
This is something which, in the beginning, totally benefited the union and hurt the company, so I'm highly suspect of that story.
Of course, now, having accelerated the pay scales in advance of an early retirement-age, the unions probably do want to remove the requirement so that the senior pilots can continue to climb the higher pay scales.
You really should do a little research before you post.
Originally Posted by http://www.ppf.org/chrono.htm
Early 1950’s Several airlines unilaterally established mandatory pilot retirements at age 60. ALPA objected, but enhanced retirement programs were then taking precedence in its contract negotiations, so did not actively resist the issue.
Feb.5, 1959 C.R. Smith, Chairman of American (and a personal friend of Gen. Quesada) addressed a personal plea (that, by its typographical errors [FOIA] he seems to have prepared himself), to Gen. Quesada, acknowledging his loss on the age 60 retirement issue, and seeking an FAA regulation to solve his labor problem.
June 1959 FAA initiates the regulatory process in response to the request by C.R. Smith for a mandatory age 60 pilot retirement.
As I've previously posted, the position of ALPA on the issue is that the age-60 rule should remain. Most pilot unions either support age-60 or take no position on it. Unions which support a change in age-60 are few with SWAPA being the only one which comes immediately to mind.