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JUST got off the phone with a friend of mine who was in AA last year. He didn't want me to use his name, but I called because I wanted to ask him about the 300% thing. He said they aren't asking for 300%, and said that whoever got that idea is just mistaken...he couldn't give me an exact figure, because he said that it's a bargining process and most of the guys don't even know the EXACT figures and he didn't think it was right for the figures to leave the bargining table. But he did say that it's likely they are asking for more than they'd take, because that's how bargining works. I understand that. It's like when I bought my first car, my first offer and his first offer were just posturing...and we met int he middle. But he assured me that they aren't holding out for 300%...or anything close to that. I asked him what he personally felt was fair...and he said he'd like to have 50%, but probably would be okay with something a little less.
He just said that a 100 dollar raise was only a 4% raise for him. Not enough. And I agree. I asked him if they just gave a 3% raise for the past 10 years of not getting a cost of living increase, and made it like a 30% raise, if he'd be okay with that, and he said that'd be close to what he thinks is fair, but he'd like to see something where it was put in the contract that they'd get a 2 or 3% COL increase every year, that way when the contract was over, they wouldn't have to worry about trying to bargin for another raise.
When I hear the guys talk just like he did, I KNOW that my feelings on this are right. He isn't being selfish. He isn't ignorant to what's going on. He said he just wants to make things better for the younger guys. He didn't want to go another 10 years without COL increases. I definitely can understand that.
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