If you assume that the pension plan has a finite amount of money to be distributed to retired pilots, and several pilots through deception, fraud, or selfishness decide to scam the system, and take more than they are entitled to, then there is a problem. They are, in effect, screwing their fellow pilots out of receiving their proper share of the plan. BTW, 7 of the 9 were SCABS during the 1983 strike. Sort of fits the profile.
Just wait until gay marriage gets installed, and heterosexual friends start marrying for benefits...I guarantee there will be many yet unseen ways to work the system when it happens.
If same sex couples can do it..why not same sex friends? what are they going to do? Make you prove it in court?
Which means two were not. I once had an MEC chairman tell me that folks that called people SCABS, were the same kind of folks that called black folks n*****s. I thought he was being quite uncharitable, but who am I to disagree with an MEC chaiman? Your allegiance to your union, and the world view through that lens, produces a truly myopic reality. Sadly, airline pilots and other blue collar workers do themselves no service when they subscribe to this herd mentality.
Don't take this critique too personally. I've just seen too many great pilots exterminate their careers by blindly following the union line. Group psychology is seductive, but that sort of groupthink is passing. Intellectual pragmatists are needed in tough economic times. Do you really think that hating someone (and yes, that is exactly what it is) based on their acceptance of a labor arrangement they may never have personally agreed to is adult behavior? I personally think it is immoral to make such distinctions, but that's just me. Obviously the majority of union airline pilots could not publicly take such a position with others keeping score with scablists, but do you really believe that most buy into that mentality without coercion? I doubt it.