According to all the wise writers here, who say the company will never pay out the up to two years termination pay to union workers, I don't ever have to worry about being laid off like non-union employees have to worry about every day. This is just another reason it's better to be union than not. BTW if I am laid off, I get 2 years pay while my manager only gets up to 6 months pay.
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There's no such thing as VTP without first a surplus declaration. Surplus has indeed happened numerous times and is expected to happen again and again, thus many of us shall soon celebrate VTP. :D
If you get surplused, it’s the same amount of layoff pay as VTP. They haven’t offered upfront VTP without a surplus in decades.
Question:
Surplus = VTP
Termination = still VTP or not?
Is this the legal loophole?
There may have been VTP as a result of a surplus, but no upfront VTP in decades. There’s also no layoffs in Legacy T for the next 4 years, so you’re going to have to keep waiting.
@gx Each sentence you wrote contains false information. For example, it's not a union offer, in fact, it's not a company "offer". Maybe managers get offers but union workers do not. Each piece of what you wrote shows your ignorance. Another example is that VTP is not only for lower paid workers. Typically it's the highest paid union workers getting the VTP because after a surplus announcement, the company is required to allow that surplussed number of workers the option to take VTP and if there's more than the number who put in for it, it goes by seniority from the top as to who gets it. Thus high senior workers, typically the oldest, get the VTP and many of those have over 31 years of service giving them two years pay. And many of them make 80 to 100k per year. Most managers, contractors or other people not really knowing what they're talking about, have all kinds of lay opinions however they demonstrate how uninformed they are by writing.
Notice all these offer stories are from several years ago or longer. Might as well been another lifetime ago in corporate timelines. Nobody is jealous about the union offers, we just know it’s never going to happen, which is why they agree to it. I’m sure whomever was surplused was some low tenure person that was cheap to let go or some outlier case where some location got closed and they couldn’t relo whomever it was. Again, edge case. All the senior folks here, yeah good luck, you’re going to drop dead before that ever happens. Those days are done and have been for a long time. They say it every year when the question comes up.
Money is really tight right now more than compared to previous years. Will management and expensive consultants come up with a creative tactic to eliminate and/or reduce 2 year VTPs?
"Nobody has gotten VTP from Leg T in almost 20 years. It’s not happening."
My office had one in 2016 with a surplus. 20 years was not enough to survive. Several that said they were waiting for one did not leave. I took a JOG so I could make MR75.
I will take an offer if one is made.
It is of course only human nature for people not eligible to receive the up to two year termination pay to simply dislike others getting it. There's the understandable jealousy, envy and disbelief because it seems obvious why it's so illogical that the company would pay workers up to two years pay to leave. Well, it happens and because history repeats itself, it's most likely to happen again. There are financial and political justifications and rationale in workforce reduction tactics which most people know nothing about nor have access to knowing - however simply put, VTP is a management tool to legally shed the oldest workers in a win/win deal. Now that the watermark language is no longer in the Leg T labor agreement, it is most likely that the company can and will get rid of workers, specifically older workers, via VTP. Most will welcome that with joyous excitement... and move on.
@g3 you are incorrect about nobody getting VTP in the past 20 years. It is a fact that CWA union members have got the termination pay both voluntarily (VTP) and Involuntarily (office closings). Most high seniority union workers are simply awaiting the next surplus announcement or closure.
Nobody has gotten VTP from Leg T in almost 20 years. It’s not happening.
@fv yes, I do know union workers who've gotten the VTP in the last 5 years. Eventually it's inevitable to happen again. The new Leg T CWA union contract still has the up to two years pay language and eventually the company will no doubt declare another surplus at which time the highest seniority workers will be forever celebrating.
There will be no offers. Get over it already.
Anyone actually know anyone that got a package or the VTP at that level in the last 5 years? 10 years? Didn’t think so. Those days are done and have been for a long time. You’re waiting on something that will never happen in your lifetime.
It's fun to hang out at work laughing with work buddies about the 2 year paid vacation thing even if it's not really going to happen. At least it makes something funny to joke around about at work - like what you'd do if you won the Powerball lottery. My workplace has seen at least 30 workers get the VTP over the past 15 or so years so it does happen. Many of us are just taking it easy hanging around until the next surplus.
@dd , well it won’t be two years worth! T’s army of attorneys will do anything & everything to avoid paying that.
Show me da money!
Yes you are correct. You’ll never be laid off and you’ll never get 2 years pay. Retire before you’re too old to enjoy.
Careful with that boastful assumptive mindset, buddy.
Just because you're protected by a union, doesn't mean life can't slap yo azz up sideways in other circumstances. You or your family/loved ones could be hit with serious health ailments, accidents, legal entanglements, financial setbacks, which could all prove to be very costly to you.
Bragging on a layoff board that you "don't ever have to worry about being laid off" is not only indicative of you being spiteful, and mean-spirited toward others facing hardship, but it's setting just asking for yourself to be b!tchslapped by Lady Karma, bigtime.
Good for you. Did you walk out in solidarity of the union “represented” service reps and dispatchers and billing reps and maintenance coordinators whose jobs are being outsourced every contract?
No one cares.
“I got my two year severance.” -Nobody
Nobody cares. Go climb a pole and sit on it.
@b9 This post is about the Leg T CWA contract
Does this apply to ALL union contracts?