Agaricus,
Its funny how people look at things differently.
You say we get 17 days leave? The way I look at it is we can book 5 lots of 5 days, get wrap around days of 3 before and 4 after and so I can book 5 lots of 12 days leave!!!!!!
Working up until 01.30 into a day off is a pain in the a@$e but I've done it once in the past 18 months, besides which if we do it more than 3 times a year we get a day back in lieu.
As for hours, we will or should all end up doing 900, so whats the gripe when and where it happens? Yes, random month has its shortcomings, but by far, outweighed by the 5/3/5/4, IMHO.
There is always give and take in negotiations, sadly we cant cherry pick what we want.
Personally I think the deal at easy is a good one, and totally down to our tireless NC and the CC!