The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Bob_Roller on June 02, 2020, 07:01:34 PM
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I work for a domestic US airline, Southwest as an aircraft mechanic, been with the company 27 years .
With the airline industry in the worst conditions that have hit them in history, the chance of massive layoffs seem to be in the not too distant future .
My employer has presented the employees with a range of options, one voluntary separation from the company with 1 years pay and 12 months of healthcare coverage .
The other options are taking 6 months, 12 months or 18 months off at 50 % pay and full benefits .
I turn 64 in August, planned on retiring January 01, 2023 with full retirement Social Security benefits .
I'm in a bit of a quandry, I do like my job and for the most part the people I work with .
I got out of aircraft maintenance training in June,'76 and this is all I've done for the last 44 years .
The 50% pay is about 4 times my monthly expenses, I have no mortgage, car payments or other debt .
Never married, no dependents .
Biggest expenses are real estate taxes, home owners insurance and vehicle insurance .
I thought this may be a good introduction to retirement without the commitment and see if not working was the right thing to do .
Anyone have any insights or personal experience they would like to share ??? :)
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Is that taking 50% pay and still working??? or are you saying you get to stay home for 18 months and still draw 50% of what you used to make to do nothing?
What happens when the 18 months are up??
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Stay at home and get 50% pay .
After whatever time frame you choose, you go back to work .
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Sounds like financially this not a hardship and with that being said I would take 18 months off then go back and you woulds soon be able to retire if that is what you wanted to do at that time.
One more question... Does your senority keep building while you are on 50%
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No reduction or loss of seniority, sick time accrual and vacation accrual .
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No reduction or loss of seniority, sick time accrual and vacation accrual .
To me it would be a "no brainer". You still have your option for 2023 retirement and they are letting you "practice" for 1/2 pay. Whatta Deal!
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I took a package and retired early and never regretted it. But you must have something to do and mates to associate with.
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But you must have something to do and mates to associate with.
What Skippy said is huge!
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We got the details of this package today, the 50% pay is base wages, our license premium, pay longevity and a premium pay position are not factored into this so my actual pay would be around 34% of what I make now .
This program has priorities, management first, non-contract employees, then contract employees .
People requesting separation from the company will get processed first then the 18 month leave then the 12 month leave then the 6 month leave .
It will be by company seniority, I was told, based on initial response to this, if you don't have at least 32 years seniority, it won't get to you, I have 27 years .
Anyone can be denied entry into this program, it will be determined by the director of the department .
They don't expect to go any further than the people that want to leave for good .
There are a good number that just want to get out of this industry, that are fed up with the direction the company has taken in the last 12 years .
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Your choice for sure, but I retired at 57 and the last 9 years have been great, lots of motorcycle trips and repair work in the winter. But I need to tell ya for the past 8 years I also have been doing wildland fire fighting, as a Logistics Chief. This haas supplemented m retirement income (I was Fed, so SS). This will be my first year without that. But still life is good. Whatever you decide, make sure you have enough to keep you busy in retirement. Sitting at home will kill ya quick.
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Bob............ how has it rolled out? Still looking like it won't get to you short timers with only 27 years with the company ;D
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It looks like not enough people are interested in this .
As of last Friday 7800 have enrolled in this program, around 2500 want to leave for good and 5300 extended time off .
The company was looking for around 25,000 participants .
Now we are being told layoffs and pay cuts are looming in the future .
But at the same time the flight schedule starting in November has as many flights as the same time last year and that they said that all the people that took extended time off will be recalled before the end of the year .
I don't think anyone has a clear view of what this situation will look like in six months .
I'm not leaving, the work group that I work in, will be reduced from 19 to 5 by around September, they are all high time employees .
Now local management fears there will not be enough employees left to get this work done, we have already fallen behind with the 6 employees that have taken the last four months off at 20% of their pay .
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Thanks for the update Bob. Your industry doesn't know if it coming or going. You have the Boing that falls out of the air, the pandemic keeping folks at home. That all could change in the blink of an eye and all the employees they tossed to the curb will be needed
Thanks again
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The enrollment period ends this coming Wednesday .
Everyone that has applied for this will be contacted around July, 22 for the result of their request .
To add further turmoil to this, the 737 MAX is expected to be back in service for the year end holidays . :D
That's an additional 170 aircraft going back into service we will not have anywhere near the amount of mechanics to make this happen .
With the aircraft being grounded for 21 months, the amount of work required to get them back into the maintenance schedule will overwhelm our capacity .
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The results of this program came out on Aug 5 .
In my work group, 8 took retirement, 4 took 18 months off, 1 took 6 months off .
That leaves 5 left to do the work of the entire crew .
Two are on medical leave for what looks like the rest of the year one has MS and is confined to a wheel chair and is not a productive employee .
Management has no idea how to get the workload accomplished, they people that took retirement will not be replaced, with the reduction of employees in this station 37%, there are not enough people to do the current workload .
They wanted to outsource this work, but the turn around time is being quoted at 2-3 months and cost is 2-3 times what it cost to do inhouse .
This program is not going to work in my department .
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And they pay management a fortune to do these stuffups.
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When the bird lifts off and the plane is hanging there in the sky on it's engines, I always wonder if anyone checked the oil lately. :-/
.... and now maybe NOT!!!
Until the industry gets back on it's feet, I think I'm grounding myself and as far as the 737 MAX is concerned, Hell No , I'll never set foot on one of them
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The first week of having four people left in my work group .
One additional person was allowed to retire, paperwork got lost in the 'machine' .
By Wednesday, the full impact of this program came to the light of day for management .
They had not trained people to do a few of the jobs that no other person in the company knew how to do .
I got one of them on Tuesday morning .
The person that previously did this job agreed to stay on until the last day of September to get me properly trained .
Rumor has it that he was offered 6 months pay to do this .
But I can't complain, I'm now in a controlled environment, cooled in the summer and heated in the winter .
Before I worked in the hangar and what ever the conditions were outside is what you worked in, except for rain .
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Good for you Bob, sounds like a major upgrade! Especially at this time of year.
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Update !!
With the growing travel demand, all employees in my department were called back and scheduled to return May 1st .
Everybody took the option to retire, separate from the company .
So now there is a shortage of people to perform required work .
Overtime cost now is exceeding the budget !!
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You obviously don't love it enough :(
(where IS that green eyed jealous monster smiley......)
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I've been doing electrical systems project management for a while now. I had a training course for some new software that is supposed to save time and administration. After the first hour (since the other 30 participants were slumbering?) I started asking questions. Does it do this? No. Does it do that, no but we are looking at it. Can it help me with this? er, no. But! it will generate lots of fancy charts from the laborious amount of data you put in! Are there any calendar based charts (since every project in the world has a timescale)? No.
Go back as a consultant on 3x the hourly rate, make some deep and meaningful observations (wear sunscreen etc) and look back in humour.
IF I HEAR ANY complaints about not having enough time to fill your day, I will (in a Liam Neeson tone) find you etc.
All the best :beerchug:
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P.S. My wife (who I should point out is 6 months younger than me) just dropped to 4 days a week.
I suggested I might do something similar and was met with :flamethrowingsmiley: :flamethrowingsmiley: :flamethrowingsmiley:
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Hi Bob, I hope I read your post the right way and haven't put my foot in my mouth again? :uhoh2:
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Honestly, I didn't understand your response !!! :D
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You didn't reply so I assumed you got the hump.
I thought you meant: no more work = Freedom! FREEEEE-DOM!!! ???
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I was told by my supervisor during the application process last summer, that don't bother to apply your request will be denied .
A person was retiring with this program and I am going to replace him .
I took over his job duties in October last year after a month of training with him .
He is the only person in the department that has done this job, for the preceding 41 years .
I got an job advancement, pay increase and pretty much don't report to anyone, as long as I have an adequate amount of parts in stock for our 700 aircraft fleet .
So, no I did not get to take the time off .
After being in this job for going on 9 months now, I can't see any reason to retire, unless health concerns force it .
So my plan of retiring January, 2023 most likely will not happen .
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My pension advisor told me to pick a bank instead of investing more in my pension. I thought that was strange advise as their rate of return is almost zero. He meant that I should rob it :o
My sister was made redundant last year, but not in the way your company has done. The boss decided to fire a whole department including key persons who had been there 40 years and my sis about 10. They were given little paperwork, a months wage and told to find a good solicitor. Any shares were ignored. A list of local solicitors was provided! She employed one of them thereafter we named "ms Shark", meanwhile the 40 years guys had got new jobs, more money and basically didn't want to know any more. After a couple of months, unfair dismissal was proven, letters were sent and the arrogant firm paid the equivalent of 6 months wages, holiday pay, shares including the last year as they were all let go on the week before trading day and several days shark feed. Sis had also found a new job by then.
I suppose the company saved some money on those who simply walked away, but what a kick in the teeth after that long?
I got made redundant in 2018 after 9 months trying to help a friend who employed me. The owner later fired me and walked me off the premises. I found it amusing at the time as I'd never had a job less than 7 years and had hated almost every minute at this place. Everyone working against everyone else, complete lack of trust in both employees and customers and stuck 70 years (or 170!) in the past. I called my friend later that day and told him it was all OK and he was very relieved. 12 months later, he also got the short walk treatment and had been there 40 years! He is a lot less stressed, happier and actually better paid now!
The current job is paying the bills and the company has a good attitude for apprentices and training and we genuinely work as a team. So if they will stand me at 67 or 68 (eek!), I'll still be there.