I see what you are saying on a philosophical level. But we flat out traded work rules for pay…albeit somewhat embedded in work rules.

The notification requirement post FAR117 was as close as we've come (and possibly ever will again) to having "the hammer" in negotiations. We sold it, just like we did last time. We will never get either back, obviously. The magitude of that might not be apparent for a while, but if we ever take another "haircut" again, we will lose the things we got and never get back what we had.

As for "what difference does it make?" I'd say this is at least a highly "teachable moment" of what we need to stop doing. We've got to stop paying for our own raises.