Exactly. Prime Weasel and his loyal followers succeeded in burning into your minds the belief that due to market forces they can't pay UPS range wages and benefits..... And by doing so they never have to first test the market to see if the market will support comparable compensation.Fred out maneuvered us and got the company covered under the Railroad Labor Act. And then when it looked like a vote was finally going to take place on the Express Employees Relief Act, an attachment to an FAA bill, he threw a reputed $32 million at Democrat Congressmen to vote to table the act to a later date, plus put new requirements on voting for a union under the RLA. Became nearly impossible for us to unionize. The Teamsters walked away from us.
I never expected UPS pay and benefits. Just stick to their promises of topping out in a reasonable time and keep our benefits in place. As I've pointed out before they have overhead flying most freight that UPS doesn't and it's not realistic to give everyone $40hr+ and great benefits. That's what advocates like @bacha29 won't tell you. But in their pursuit of profit they turned a solid job into a joke.
Teamsters on the other hand have market analysists of their own. Either inhouse or contracted expertise from outside firms.
They go into negotiations with a pretty could idea as to what the market will bear and base their demands accordingly .
And over the years..... they've become pretty darn good at it.