About 5 years ago, I was hired on at my current employer. I had had some previous experience with them so they hired me right over the phone, no questions asked. The problem was (and is), that I was hired onto a temporary contract, filling in for someone on a leave of absence. Here I am five years laster and some motions are being made to get me on full time into this position. The trouble is, there is a union where I work and it's not quite as simple as rolling me in. In order for the job to go permanent, it has to be posted for an open competition at my organization.

In the beginning, this job was fairly basic and involved no programming. Since that time, I have introduced several apps for the organization and complete work that the prior person could not even dream of. So naturally, I have asked for a raise. My boss agrees that a wage increase is fair, but he told me today that we can't really post this position at a higher wage, as that would invite even more competition for me when the job is posted.

My question is, after 5 years of growing this position on my own into something much more, I'm basically being asked to continue to receive a lower wage if I want any shot at a permanent position with the company.

That doesn't seem right to me, but I do see my boss's point about keeping the position where it's at for a better shot at the job. Am I being a big wuss here by laying down and taking this, or after five years of this, am I in a position to make a few demands?

Would they be screwed without me? YUP.