The membership set the expectations. The MEC merely follows them, through statistically valid polling and direct interactions. 4 years ago, the company was printing $6B a year. Our ask was entirely reasonable then. That rate of earning has just about returned. 2023 will be a record year.

Personally, my expectations have only gone up in the last 6 months, as 8+% annual inflation continues unabated.

I have heard from my reps, and JA himself, that we have thus far had zero concessions. None. Zip. Zilch. They are keenly aware we will put their noggins on a spike if they bring us a lackluster product (like UA and AA have apparently done). In addition, they are adamant we are not skipping a contact cycle, and this will be 2 contracts in one. (As an aside, there were over 50 asks from the company on section 23 alone, which is huge. They beat back every single one of them, except the 2 which made so much noise about a month ago.) At this point, we are just about down to just the $$$.

Having said that, I'm very guarded that the MEC will come back to us with a ton of QOL gains, and a very meager $$$ package, stating it's the best they can get considering UA and AA, and that the QOL will make ratifying the agreement worth it. UA is about to vote a resounding NO on their renewed TA1 vote, and AA would help a lot by voting theirs down too.