JT - I urge you to send your comments directly to the negotiating committee.
Of course involuntary extension is a big issue! But you also have to give the company the flexibility to recover from Weather and Mx events without incurring huge costs. It is all part of negotiation.
Personally, I think you need to make it as expensive for them as you can if taking X days is for anything other than protecting the operation.
Conversly many many guys that you hear are out more than 4 days are out because they need the money. So how does the negotiating committee find a way to accomodate them and those that don't want X days used at all?.
There are also many who are out more than four days because they don't know the contract or are unwilling to hold the companies feet to the fire. The contarct says that you must be "in your base by 23:59 on the fourth X day." If you let them keep you out longer then it is your fault. Also the contract says that X days are to be used to protect the operation. If you let them take even one X day ten days in advance (which in NOT protecting the operation) then it is your fault. And if you let them do it once then they think they can do it all the time.
As I said before I average less than 3 X days PER YEAR. So from my experience, and from my knowledge from a project I worked on for the MEC, there is no one that has done 21 days a month for 36 months straight. There are a few guys who will whore themselve out and then complain about it to no end. They usually shut up when I ask them why they let the company take more than 4. And usually these are the guys who volunteer their entire months.
You keep harping on the X day usage - if you feel you are being abused unfairly then I urge you to contact the MEC or the scheduling committee. They can look into it and get you an actual count of your X days used and advise you on how to combat this - or at least help you to file a grievance.