Dear Union members,
You won some items that were important to you and that is great, but in other respects, you've been had. Pre negotiating a set %age raise for the comings years sounds great. Guaranteed raises, yay! BUT, you went back to work before it impacted the jobs report which saves face for the government and opens the door for the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates. Increased interest rates will likely produce some inflation and projections suggest a proper cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2017 to be 3%, not the 2.5% that you have in the contract. Plus, increased health premiums will take a chunk or all of that raise so your net gain is zero. In fact, with inflation, your take home will not go as far so you may live poorer.
Also, if you have ever read the fine print of any insurance policy, the insurers (another big business driven by profits), they reserve the right to alter the plan or premiums annually, regardless of the current agreement. They may oray not do that, but you can be sure that if Congress rolls back the ACA (you probably call it Obamacare), every insurance policy will be renegotiated because the law of coverage changes. Then everyone is potentially subject to loss of coverage due to preexisting conditions.
Again, I applaud your gains, your job is important and the work is demanding. I just hope you are all well informed about ALL the details. Good luck on your return to work. It was a strong and impressive stand against corporate America.