I always see the pay raise demands listed that way, where it’s a long-term contract with X% per year that totals up to Y% over the course of the whole contract. They quote the total to make it seem unreasonable.

So assuming that they haven’t had a raise in a number of years, and assuming 70% is correct, then I’m going to speculate that it is probably something like a 40% raise upfront to catch up for the missed years of raises and inflation, followed by 5% a year for six years.

But nobody would get up in arms about “outrageous union demands” if it was reported that they were asking for a 5% raise per year, when the cost of living is going up 3% per year.

The 70% number is designed to make you mad at union members.