The leave allocation to surplus and excess leave is not really a biggie. Yes, it is the first step in the road to redundancies.
But the companies hand has been forced somewhat. There was a proposal to some of the senior ranks that they could each take some leave.
The idea was if every Captain on the 77 and 74 agreed to take 2 weeks of their retirement leave over the next year there will (currently) be no more down training or possibility of redundancy.
That proposal was rejected. So now annual leave will be allocated. Hopefully to give some gentlemen an experience of retirement, that they might quite like.
Not holding my breath tho. Any over 65's care to comment?