Paid Leaves for 12,500 SWA employees
 

As JL shoots another email across the bow that the VEOP results will "not avoid pilot furloughs" and offers ALV reductions as the only way to save jobs, SWA announces that over 12,500 of their employees will receive PAID LEAVES (up to 5 years) to mitigate their current staffing issues. That compares to ZERO Delta employees that have been offered a temporary paid leave to help the company navigate the next 1-5 years.

I agree completely, but you're about to get a bunch of replies saying that nobody would take an extended SIL.... but you know what, there's only one way to find out and that's to offer them.

I would gladly go away for a year to get away from all this BS and hopefully come back to something closer to normal

I would take a year off in a heartbeat. Lifetime opportunity.

Might have to withdrawal my deposit on that Miata though...

55 hours of pay a month for 24-36 months would be awesome and on par with the VEOP. I'm in for 30.

SWA offered up to 5 years. I get that 6-12 month SILS make it tricky to start another job, but 1-5 years and you could really commit to something.

It just seems like our management's definition of "all available voluntary options" is to 1) volunteer to take an unpaid leave or 2) volunteer to take a pay cut.

If I was offered a long term SIL, I would accept it today. Anecdotal, I know, but I'm sure there are many more like me. If my option is to ride out this s&*# storm for the next few years, or take less pay and focus on broadening my career in other fields for a few years, it's a simple decision. I am facing the street in the near future, or at best, commuting to reserve in NYC, and nobody wants anything to do with that. Lets start working on some longer term paid leave options as opposed to focusing on lowering ALV while giving the company all the room to flex as necessary to keep us on the street for significantly longer. Just one UNA's take on the situation, take it for what it's worth.

Small point of order:

Reading online it's the SWA Pilots ONLY VEOP that is up to 5 years of pay.

The extended leaves are for a 6-12-18 months off with some sort of pay package for other SWA employees. Maybe (?) includes the pilots? Not clear.

Articles do say that 24% of their pilots have signed up for some kind of retirement or leave.

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In any case, it seems like an amazing offer. Different company and all that; I'd much rather be at Delta. But if Southwest is a bellwether, the airlines are in for a rough few years.

Nearly 17,000 Southwest Airlines employees sign up for buyouts, leaves in bid to avoid furloughs

Thats the non-pilot deal. SWA pilot ExTOs (Extended Time Off) were up to 5 yrs. Available increments were 6 months, 1-2-3-4-5 yrs. We've seen nothing like that. Page 6 below...

https://viewfromthewing.com/wp-conte...Overviewv5.pdf

I would take a 12 month SIL in a heartbeat. Would strongly consider 24 months.

SWA guy here. The numbers are as follows:

VSP: 529 (plus another 158 in the 7-day opt out window) (461 CA/68 FO)
ExTO: 1559 (481 CA/1078 FO)

VSP - 5 year paid permanent leave. No longer an employee but still retain some benefits (limited healthcare, non-rev, etc.) Paid 67 TFP/mo (~60 hours to you DAL guys)

ExTO - Temporary leave of 6 months to 5 years. Still on seniority list, get annual pay raises, normal benefits, etc. Paid 55 TFP/mo (~50 hours)