Viewing page 27 of 200

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-26- 
I do not need to say again that after everything else is done and all the other measures which you may recommend are adopted, the air line pilots will remain the backbone of flying in the United States. Any measure which will prevent their drifting off into other activities which would keep them relatively satisfied with their jobs is to the interest not only of the pilots but also of the employers and of the country as a whole. Unless we are able to solve this problem of retirement insecurity and job insecurity, which are very closely related to each other, the quality of personnel in the industry is bound to be unfavorably affected. 

III. The Retirement Problem is One for the Industry -- Employers and Pilots -- to Solve. 

I believe that the problem of retirement is one which, in a large measure, must be worked out by the air transport industry -- by the employers and the pilots. But, I am bringing the matter to the attention of the President's Air Policy Commission because of my conviction that the employers will not be inclined to adopt the needed measures unless there is general public recognition of our problem which will, in a large measure, force the industry to act. 

By saying that the problem is one for the industry itself to solve, the achievements of security requires, among other things, the provisions of incomes for pilots who have retired. The provisions of those incomes requires reserves. I do not believe that those reserves ought to be raised out of general revenue. Rather, it is my contention that the necessary funds can and should be raised by the joint action of the employers and the pilots. 

It is my further contention that any contributions which an employer would make to a rational pilots' retirement systems would not be a net addition to his costs. On the contrary, we believe that the greater degree of security which such a system would bring with it would make for such better conditions among pilots that there would be no additional costs to the air transport companies. 

The members of this Commission are doubtless familiar with the history of the railroad retirement system. Beginning almost 20 years ago, there began to be a very acute retirement problem on the railroads, although most of the larger railroad companies had some sort of retirement system. They were highly unsatisfactory from the point of view of the workers. Just as the air line retirement problem is a problem for the air transport industry, the railroad retirement problem was a problem for the railroad industry -- for both employers and employees. But, just as is true now of the air line employers, the railroads were unwilling to work out a satisfactory system with the workers, until, on two occasions, the Congress of the United States, acting on the very vigorous representations of railroad labor, enacted legislation imposing a retirement system on the railroad industry.