The comparison documents MECs put together when preparing for negotiations is important to know before taking any contract survey. You may feel that your compensation or work rules are adequate until you find out that a certain part of your contract is the industry basement. I run into many pilots who simply don't know what they don't know and therefore are blissfully ignorant of their subpar contract. Just because you've worked under a contract, doesn't mean you know how it compares, even if you have an opinion of what needs to be improved. By how much should it be improved? What do the other airlines have in their contract? Or are your expectations a little too high? Can't know any of this unless you know a comprehensive contract comparison.