There is a lot of info in this thread that is being projected and calculated out using just simple hourly rates and assumed hours worked. You have to know more about their pay structure than what I am seeing from many posts on here. Different classifications have different rates of pay and most employees are on group operation based incentive plans. Additionally the current labor agreement allows for employees to be laid off for up to (I believe) 12 weeks per year. These weeks can be full weeks or day at a time. Pay for layoff consists of unemployment benefit plus a smaller supplemental benefit. The layoff benefits in no way comes close to what the employees would make if they worked those days or weeks.
Additionally they do have group operation incentive plans that can provide additional earning but also can easily be somewhat manipulated( probably most of the time unintentionally) by layoffs and other day to day management decisions. In most cases those issues negatively impact some incentive earnings the groups have made. Operations of the incentive plans is another big sticking point for the workers in negotiations but it’s not a sexy topic like wages and or retirement that people unfamiliar with the contract can relate too. More times than not contract language and non economic issues are just as much the hot button issue.
