I agree. Reserve is part of the reason, but I also have kids that are as young as 3rd grade.
I could hold a line, but if I upgrade, I give up all weekends that are not vacation, so in essence I go from having off all weekends and holidays to working all weekends and holidays...for an extra 3-4k a month(but not really since as a senior FO I can get the premium that closes that gap). The senior people in a base also get it all if they want it. There are no green slips here at United.

Money is nice, but our PBS and scheduling sucks.

I think there is one thing that would "fix" the company's issues and vastly increase the QOL of everyone here, but most will probably balk at it because we have a bunch of old people that have been **** on and must exert maximum pain for everyone.

Make golden days off a monthly bid. Everyone gets 2 days they pick to have off. Make some rules that they can't touch a holiday or other days, but if everyone got at least 2 days to choose off each month, you can have your kids birthday off, you get your anniversary off, you can attend your nephew's graduation, etc.

This is basically a "no cost" item for the company. It doesn't give any more days off it just allows even Jr guys to pick a group of days off.
Yes, not everyone can bid the same weekend off so it's not perfect. But how many people can't get off for their kids birthday because they have to fly a ****ty 4 day?

Is it really "fair" in a union industry that our seniority means "everything"? Could we agree that it's important for even the junior guys to get one "bite at the apple" before the senior guys eats the apple to it's core?

This would actually probably help reliability and reduce sick calls which would make reserve more palatable.

This should be industry standard. I would argue to even go a step further and it should be at least a 3 day block for these GDOs as well.

Full disclosure, I'm a middle seniority guy here at 15 years. I would stand to benefit pretty good in the next few years when I can finally get to <50-60% in base and then get "all weekends and holidays" off.

Another fix for our UPA is to create a "green slip" type system like DL.
Why is it the top 10% in base can literally drop every trip they want and wait for the premium to roll in while mid to jr lineholders can't get jack? At DL, once you get one premium, more Jr lineholders get a shot at a premium prior to the Senior picking the bone dry.

We've got a problem here at United that's engrained in our culture, and it's basically a "SENIORITY TRUMPS EVERYTHING" culture.

Even DL and AA realize that "booking" the jumpseat is a great QOL enhancer, but here at United, we want the Sr guys to be able to show up 30 mins prior to departure because they got in early and snag that jumpseat, even though there was another one 2 hrs later they had planned on.