Non Union people are so abused you think this is unethical.
One of our leave types pays out in March any hours over 96 if we don't ask to carry it over to the next year. We can take our overtime pay as leave (at 1.5 hours leave to 1 hour worked), and bonus holiday pay as leave.
This year the local negotiated a cost of living increase and eliminating the bottom two step increases, resulting in an approximate 14 percent pay bump for most employees. I also received a promotion this year.
I banked hundreds of hours of leave earlier this year from overtime and holidays that will payout in March next year 26 percent higher than when I worked it. I've done this every year I have promoted, and we are expected to do this since it is one of the ways we can burn our leave totals without taking off. If I had been really smart I would have carried over my leave from 2022 so it pays out next year, and I would have seen a single paycheck next year that was equal to half my years base pay last year.
When that pays out I will still have nearly 6 months of leave banked.
Your employer can afford to pay you. Make them pay you.
My union got me more money in a single year than I will pay in dues for my entire career in at least 3 separate years in the 6 years I've been working for my employer.
I get leave each year that is slightly more than 20 percent of my work hours.
Unions are amazing for workers.