Will US Airways Follow Delta's Lead

[usa1]

Delta Air Offers Buyouts to Trim Jobs

Workers in the U.S. with 10 years of service whose age and service total at least 55 years are eligible for the retirement offers while employees with five years of service can take a buyout, Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said today in his weekly recorded message to employees. Both are voluntary.

LINK

Suggestion for CWA on a package: Have $3000 for each year of full-time service put into our 401k and $1500 for each year of part-time service?

 

[signals]

Buy outs are becoming a common practice in many industries. By retiring eligible recipients, you can hire cheaper labor! Or eliminate unfruitful positions.

Early retirement may not be a bad thing, but you should make sure you know what to expect and avoid surprises, because once your gone, it's permanent!

 

[wings396]

Before anyone gets too excited, let's wait to see what the details of Delta's offer are. I would be first in line if US offers a good one, but chances of that are slim at best. The biggest issue for anyone about to retire is medical benefits, or the lack of. Given that our past retirees have lost theirs, I'm not counting on anything worthwhile here. Unless you are about to retire anyway with Medicare about to kick in, you are screwed. I suppose you could leave here and get another P/T job elsewhere with bennies, but that isn't really what I call retirement.

 

[usa1]

IM looking froward to seeing what Delta offers her employees, Delta mgt has always been respectful toward them.

Most of us qualify for IRS health-care through the PBGC at age 55, but who can trust that?

Workers with 10 years of service whose age and service total at least 55 years are eligible for the retirement offers

Geez! 1000's of us equal 75 or more and currently have little hope of leaving before age 62 or 67 ... or maybe 90?

I don't look for US Airways to seriously negotiate with the CWA on a new contract, or a buyout until after the next Presidential election. They'll just let us snap-back to 1999 ( Whoopie!) and then wait to see who the next administration is ..... or who our merger partner is.

 

[wings396]

I know that one of Delta's past offers let you go at 55, and compensated you as if your were 62 until SS kicked in. That was a good deal, but medical wasn't an issue then. The last IAM offer thew you a few grand, but it was spread out over a period of time. All in all it was,t that great unless you were leaving soon anyway.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Most of us qualify for IRS health-care through the PBGC at age 55, but who can trust that?

I assume you're talking about the HCTC, which either pays 65% of premiums on a monthly basis or can be claimed as a tax credit when filing federal taxes. Just keep in mind that it's 65% of the premium for an individual health care policy and those costs can be pricey. My wife and I pay approximately $1200/mo after the HCTC pays it's 65%.

Jim

 

[usa1]

So your montly healthcare cost is $4200.00 per month? Wow. I can buy it for $400-$600 on my own?

 

[BoeingBoy]

So your montly healthcare cost is $4200.00 per month? Wow. I can buy it for $400-$600 on my own?

More or less. Of course, the cost depends on the plan one chooses - we chose one that is a step below the company top plan - and age. Part of the problem is that to get the HCTC benefit you have to do one of two things - use an approved plan or get coverage a month before leaving employment and forgoing any COBRA coverage that may be available. We chose to use the 18 months of COBRA since it was much less than comparable individual coverage, leaving on 3.5 years of the expensive coverage till Medicare kicks in (the HCTC ends at age 65 whether or not you sign up for medicare).

Jim

 

[usa1]

It sounds like HCTC is forcing you into an over price plan at the tax payers expence. And yours ... why does that not surprise me.

 

[SparrowHawk]

Does US have enough to even attempt a buyout? I'm thinking the answer is NO, given the volatility with fuel these days.

 

[BoeingBoy]

It sounds like HCTC is forcing you into an over price plan

Those are the rules - blame Congress if you want to blame someone. I suspect that at 64 you'll find that there aren't any good, cheap plans available to you. It was great while on COBRA - the HCTC picked up 65% of the bill so our cost was about the same as it was when I was working. Going to an individual plan was more expensive than that but not too bad initially - like paying for COBRA out of pocket - for a plan almost as good as the company plan. Lower cost plans were available and approved, but we wanted the better coverage. However, each year older has brought a higher premium, on top of medical inflation driving the cost up.

So it depends on where you live, what's approved for that state, what coverage you want and age.

Jim

 

[BoeingBoy]

Does US have enough to even attempt a buyout?

That's the question and my guess would be that US may have enough but wouldn't spend it on a buyout if the number of people qualifying was significant. I don't think that they think that they've got a satisfactory cash cushion.

Jim

 

[Travelpro72]

I can guarantee you as the sky is blue that US will NEVER offer a buyout of any substance. They will NOT follow Delta or any other carrier in offering a buyout that would be benefitial to the employee. They don't think outside of the box and will give you 10 reasons to Sunday as to why it doesn't make sense in this economical climate to do such a thing although they'd "like to". Trust me, there will be no buyout with retirement medical and a cash amount to make many employees bite.

 

[Harry Callahan]

What travelpro72 said, It will NEVER happen,

 

[Zarah]

I tend to agree. They seem to have blinders on that prevent them from seeing the bigger picture or outside of any box. Buyouts is just one area, but there are many others too.