So I'm in Ontario, Canada working for a largish company, couple thousand employees. Pretty good retirement program. I'm 20 months to official retirement.
The relationship with the boss is suffering. Not sure I'm going to be able to stay in this situation. Talking to my union rep, one thing mentioned was a "bridge to retirement."
Yes, I'm following up with my union rep to get more details.
What is "bridge to retirement?"
When I have seen the term "bridge to retirement" it is plan to manage the last year or two of employment before retiring.
The person to replace you is identified, and then you, over the period of time, train them, and then give them more and more responsibility.
In some case you keep all your benefits while reducing your hours as you get closer to the end date. In some cases they allow you to start to collect your retirement pay while working part time.
A bridge to retirement is part of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). This benefit is designed to bridge the gap between your early retirement income and your income after you turn 65.
For members of defined benefit pension plans who retire early (before age 65), a pension bridge benefit is a temporary monthly payment that “bridges” the gap between their last paycheque and their eligibility for unreduced Canada Pension Plan (CPP) payments at age 65. The bridge benefit ends when the person dies or turns 65 years old, whichever comes first. (From MoneySense)
A quick search will give you many useful links but you may want to check with some professional of the sector if the Canadian Law has some local adjustments because of the location or the job.
As you said, your union may help you get a clear view about this plan.
Whenever I've heard the term, it just means a job you can do with your existing skills to pull a paycheck. You are no longer looking for advancement or taking on challenges to further develop your skills, you're just doing what you already know how to do until you are ready to retire. Often it's a position that requires the advanced skills you have accumulated over the course of your career, but is not really essential to the operation of the company. So when you retire and leave in a couple years they don't really worry about how they are going to replace you.
It's a job that lets you keep pulling a paycheck until you are ready to retire, but isn't really going to hurt the company when you leave.
Typically this means the difference between your current age and the age at which you can start drawing a pension/retirement funds.
There could be 2 things he meant:
1: If you are old enough that you could start drawing a pension and actually retire - then perhaps retire early or
2: Asking if you have the means to retire now and wait till you can draw a pension.
Or it could be something different entirely.
