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AFFILIATED WITH THE 
A.F. OF L. 

"SCHEDULE WITH SAFETY"

AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION
INTERNATIONAL
3145 WEST SIXTY-THIRD STREET
CHICAGO 29

TELEPHONE 
HEMLOCK 5015

537

January 28, 1948

Mr. Clayton Stiles
28 Squirrel Hill Road
Roslyn Heights, L. I., N. Y. 

Mr. M. A. Gitt 
148-25 Bayside Avenue
Flushing, L. I., N. Y.

Mr. A. F. Foster
703 Terrace Blvd.
New Hyde Park, New York

Mr. Murray W. Latimer
910 17th Street NW
Washington, D. C.

Gentlemen:

The indication at this Headquarters is, despite the fact that the pension bill appears to have the approval of the Board of Directors, there is considerable opposition in the field among our own members. Most of this opposition is lack of accurate knowledge of the subject. I believe also that our friend, the infallible ATA, has been on the job. Salesmen are active in the field selling the meaningless company plans that have been placed in effect I say "meaningless" because that is what they are - "meaningless". 

Recently, when Mr. Patterson was hard-pressed during the final days of the negotiating of the UAL agreement, he is reported, on good authority, to have said, "If UAL's back actually goes to the wall, the first thing that will be done away with is the pension plan."

Here is my recommendation and I believe the sooner we accomplish it, the better it will be: I believe Mr. Latimer should author a booklet, not too lengthy, written in the language of the laymen or in everyday language of the street on what our new pension law means. In the same booklet should be an analysis of what the typical company pension plan amounts to. These booklets, I believe, should be authored, and circulated to every member before we enter the fight in earnest in Washington to secure a pension law. As soon as the battle starts, unless we have our own people well-educated and sold on ALPA's pension law, the opposition will move our dissenters into the picture which will be deadly effective against our efforts to get something done.

I believe the Pension Committee should get together on this at the earliest possible time and let Headquarters have the first draft of the material for the booklet describing ALPA's new pension bill. An early response will be appreciated.