Funny thing is, I don't give a crap about the refs, and I don't think they should have the ability to think they can run the NFL by going on strike. Just like the teachers in Chicago, a bunch of whiny ass crybabies that feel the need to strong-arm and hurt others to try to get their way instead of earning it.
The three biggest arguments they are on strike for are:
Money
NFL Refs(pre-strike) make an average of about $150k/year! And this is just essentially a hobby, many also hold full time jobs that earn over 6 figures. They argue that many other sports officials are paid higher, but when you look at the time invested, an NFL ref could officiate MAX 25 games in a season(if they worked all 4 preseason games, all 17 weeks of regular season and worked all of the postseason games) which is damn near unheard of. Many other sports, baseball for example, has MANY more obligations to fulfill because there are 10x+ the amount of games that each team has, therefore they should be paid more as they are working more.
Pension
Pensions are dying out left and right, and for good reason, people are living longer and it isn't fair to those left in a company to pay out on retired employees for 35 years past retirement when it was assumed when the pension was written up that they would only be paying out for 15-20 years. They are making enough money for this side-job that they can be big boys and invest it themselves and be more than well off during their retirement.
Job Security
My biggest pet peeve with unions...If you are doing your job poorly, you should no longer have a job. I don't care if you have 30 years experience, bad performance = bad employee = gotta go. They want essentially a tenure so that they will have something to fall back on if they have bad performance. They don't want the young bucks to come in and take over their jobs when they can't keep up. Ref'ing can wear someone down, I've done it numerous times before and depending on your assignment, you may be running most of the game. You can see it, many of these guys are old, and they will need to be replaced when they can't keep up.
As far as the call on Monday. Yes, it was bad, but nowhere near the worst call in history, far from it. Just go on Google and search for Worst NFL Blown Calls and make sure to filter the dates as to not include anything after last Monday(otherwise you'll be going through page after page of Pack-v-Seahawks), you will find some terrible calls, made by none other than the full time refs. Had this happened when the regular refs were in it would have just gotten added to the list, but because it was replacements, it turned into a shitstorm.(Here's one list:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/420700-10-of-worst-officiating-calls-in-nfl-history)
