Interesting Development at Work

[Bob_Roller]

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

[wilcom]

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??

[Bob_Roller]

Stay at home and get 50% pay .
After whatever time frame you choose, you go back to work .

[wilcom]

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%

[Bob_Roller]

No reduction or loss of seniority, sick time accrual and vacation accrual .

[wilcom]

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!

[skippyc]

I took a package and retired early and never regretted it. But you must have something to do and mates to associate  with.

[wilcom]

But you must have something to do and mates to associate  with.

What Skippy said is huge!

[Bob_Roller]

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 .

[orforester]

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.

[wilcom]

Bob............ how has it rolled out? Still looking like it won't get to you short timers with only 27 years with the company

[Bob_Roller]

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 .

[wilcom]

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

[Bob_Roller]

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 .

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 .

[Bob_Roller]

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 .