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<blockquote data-quote="Undertow" data-source="post: 5634666" data-attributes="member: 4550">Of course the union would continue talks if the company were to come up with an improved offer next weekend in the event no agreement were to be reached by the 5th.&nbsp; O&#039;Brien knows there&#039;s a potential PR downside and loss of leverage if his public announcements and tough posturing crossed the threshold into being unreasonable with 3 weeks and change to go until the current deal expires.I can remember back in 2002 where there was still no deal in sight at this stage of the process with union rep Tom Keagel employing the same sort of public remarks SOB used just days ago stating back then that the company needed to &quot;get serious&quot;.&nbsp; A few days after that, Hoffa entered the negotiating room for the first time and told the company&#039;s side of the room that if substantial progress wasn&#039;t made by the end of that session, they would face a walkout by the union negotiators with roughly 3 weeks remaining and thus increasing the possibility of customers scrambling towards the competion at an increasingly accelerated rate.&nbsp; With two weeks remaining before August 1st, there was a handshake agreement.Many of us have been through this before.&nbsp; There might have been one contract after that one that was agreed to well over a year before the expiration of the then-existing deal, but other than that most have always been contentious and often bitter drawn out affairs.&nbsp; The current union leadership made no secret of their intentions while running for the positions they now hold to take a tougher stance toward management than their predecessors had.&nbsp; So far things have unfolded much as they predicted.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Undertow, post: 5634666, member: 4550"] Of course the union would continue talks if the company were to come up with an improved offer next weekend in the event no agreement were to be reached by the 5th. O'Brien knows there's a potential PR downside and loss of leverage if his public announcements and tough posturing crossed the threshold into being unreasonable with 3 weeks and change to go until the current deal expires. I can remember back in 2002 where there was still no deal in sight at this stage of the process with union rep Tom Keagel employing the same sort of public remarks SOB used just days ago stating back then that the company needed to "get serious". A few days after that, Hoffa entered the negotiating room for the first time and told the company's side of the room that if substantial progress wasn't made by the end of that session, they would face a walkout by the union negotiators with roughly 3 weeks remaining and thus increasing the possibility of customers scrambling towards the competion at an increasingly accelerated rate. With two weeks remaining before August 1st, there was a handshake agreement. Many of us have been through this before. There might have been one contract after that one that was agreed to well over a year before the expiration of the then-existing deal, but other than that most have always been contentious and often bitter drawn out affairs. The current union leadership made no secret of their intentions while running for the positions they now hold to take a tougher stance toward management than their predecessors had. So far things have unfolded much as they predicted. [/QUOTE]

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