Originally Posted by
Southerner
You can't look at only one thing, ignoring the rest, and say it's concessionary. If all things remained equal, and your pay remained flat, I would agree. But instead you get scope, dramatically improved work rules, etc. Yes, you're losing PTO sellback. But that's not the only thing in the CBA. On the whole it's a big improvement, which is why it's going to pass by 65-70%.
Ive spent the last two weeks reading the damn thing looking for some hidden gem. If my pay is going down by 10,000 dollars a year, what do you think its worth? Theres no work rule that will convince me that its worth that. The bus guys get a much bigger raise to make up for it but I do not. I will end up commuting again next year back on the bus if this thing passes. For the last two years I have spent mostly on reserve enjoying life and my kids know who I am. Now we are even losing EPS pay on reserve and thats sure to cost me too.
And don't tell me the vacation rules are worth it. Do we need more vacation allotment at times of the year when it pays to take vacation? Absolutely! Do we need scope? Absofreakinglutely. But I survived our crappy first year pay (the one thing in this contract that I do believe that they got 100 percent right) and I am finally in a position where I can really make some dough... and now I get to go backwards!
Oh, and we have taken 3-4 mini vacations each year for the last two years.