My wife pointed something out that I hadn't considered. Maybe the management are deliberatley trying to goad people into leaving so they can reduce numbers without having to have it labeled "redundancy". Face is so important to this company.
I would suggest it will be like everything else around here, when they can't crew aircraft, when the recession ends there will be another new Upgrade and Transition policy!
Recommend not throwing in the job unless / until you have something better to go to, it may be just what they want!