I don't know, if the board were to put out a detailed plan to shareholders - like "we intend to do everything in our power to break the union, which will result in a 6-12 month period of reduced returns. But doing so will long-term slash our operation costs by (insert large percentage) through wage and benefit reduction. Therefore in 18 months or so out returns will far exceed any previously paid out. " Smart investors would have little problem with this as smart investors buy and hold large cap stocks. Now perhaps if large funds(like say a teacher union etc) is invested heavily they would push back on it.
That's one thing about being in our positions as labor, we think we know how things work, but the truth is we don't see the information, the projections and all that type of data that drives decisions at high levels. It is fun to debate about it though.
