Small items like this could be tax free items. Add them all up and it makes a difference. To get an extra $300/mo after tax you need something like $3.50-4.00/hr increase.

I wouldn’t make this a high priority item but these smaller items could have an impact if we get creative. Allow guys to bank unused hotel rooms (figure a standard rate for credit) and non-commuters could accumulate something for vacation.

In short, it could/should be both a pay raise and attacking some more creative ways to pocket pwa value.

As others have noted these types of compensation are also less visible to outsiders which might help decouple us from negotiating for all employee groups as well.

To caveat all of the above, I lean more towards picking our few high priority items to address with fervor rather than opening with 300+ items (and the associated longer negotiating cycle).

This is a place where I’d like to see improvement from our MEC. This “hardass” approach that we’ve taken has, for better or worse, resulted in fewer improvements outside of section 6. No LOAs of substance have been signed, allowing us to clear the chaff prior to openers. It remains to be seen if this will yield results, but so far they haven’t produced much of anything with their strategy.

Remember this as you vote in the LEC elections. I favor business minded leaders over emotional blowhards that have committed to NO already (looking specifically at Jimmy Johnson, and by extension his entire “ticket”).