Can some of you CAL guys or gals tell me about the following:

In a recent conversation I had with a CAL pilot I was informed that a contract which had a 20% pay increase (over current CAL rate) but cut the cap to 85 hours would be considered a pay cut and this pilot would vote NO! (Yes he shouted).

But a moment later this pilot told me how constantly "tired" he was. He was tired (using a leading expletive) when he went to work, tired when he got home, tired while he worked and so on.

I guess I don't get it, working 100 hours with 10 - 13 days off for the money and being dead tired all the time is a good thing, but yet working 15% less with a 20% pay raise is a cut/bad?

Please help me with this, I have always tried to work less. I'm one of those who when contract 2000 (UAL) came around I dropped my hours to 70.

I guess what I'm also asking is, where's the balance between "productivity" (more hours = more money) and life not in an airplane?