I'm sure the LAME was trolling a bit too. We llike baiting people. LOTW, you're a sucker. You obviously took the bait.
Now I'm not taking your bait, just trying to educate you a little.
For starters, very few LAMEs are on $140K.
You imply the LAME is a pre-1996 LAME. So if he was an older LAME, good luck to him. He either holds licenses on just about every aircraft in the fleet and some that aren't or holds fewer licenses but has decades of experience in the industry. Every other industry I know of, such highly qualified or experienced employees are highly valued.
There's an old saying: "A good engineer does more with less". So it stands to reason that an older LAME probably doesnt work as hard as a younger LAME. Why? 1. he's already been working hard on shiftwork for decades and may be physically incapable of running around like a young bloke. 2. He doesnt need to because he's more experienced than a younger LAME.
I'm a post-1996 LAME and I value my older colleagues. Every one is an incredibly valuable resource - fonts of wisdom and experience. I definitely don't spite them their pay, just as I don't spite a check captain his $250,000 or so.
Oh, i forgot, most of you are weak as pi.s.
Yeah we must be to reject 3%, vote down the best the company would offer after 18 moths of negotiation, hang out for 2.5 years for a fair payrise, refuse overtime, refuse to rise to the provocations of a buggery campaign, keep the aircraft flying albeit delayed somewhat, work our rings out in all weather at all hours and still bring the company to it's knees. Real weak.