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A SHORT SURVEY OF
ALPA'S PROPOSED RETIREMENT PLAN

This survey is an attempt to provide a digest of the proposed ALPA Retirement Plan which will enable the reader to ascertain the salient features of the proposed program with the expenditure of a minimum of time. This digest is intended to include only the following:

1. Structure of the Plan.

2. Eligibility to receive benefits.

3. A table by which you can determine approximately how much the Plan will cost you personally and how much you may expect to receive in dollars and cents benefits from it.

General Structure of the Plan

The proposed Air Line Pilots' Retirement Program would be an Act of the Congress of the United States. It would be legislated through the taxing power of the Congress and would be financed by an equal tax upon the pilot and upon his employer. The cost of the program is presently calculated at 15 1/2 per cent of the employee's salary up to $12,000 per year to be borne at a rate of 7.75 per cent by the employer and 7.75 per cent by the employee. The plan would probably be financed by a tax of 7.75 per cent deducted from the employee's salary in the same manner as Social Security. Participation in the plan is compulsory and the tax would be collected from all airline pilots regardless of whether or not they belong to ALPA.

The plan is modeled after the Railroad Retirement Act and some features of the Social Security Program. It would be administered by the Railroad Retirement Board.   

The outstanding feature of the plan is the protection it provides against occupational disability. This feature is generally not purchasable in commercial insurance programs and it accounts for a large percentage of the cost of this plan.

This program will function concurrently with Social Security. Social Security payments will still be deducted from your salary. However, you would receive benefits from Social Security and this program concurrently.

Four main types of insurance protection would be afforded by the plan.

Complete Disability, which is briefly defined as a permanent mental or physical condition such that the individual is unable to engage in any regular employment.

Occupational Disability, which for pilots is defined as a permanent mental or physical condition such as to be disabling for work as a pilot.