If the majority of the teamsters crossed the line, the strike would be over. The company would bring in replacement workers and give the holdouts a deadline to report to work or be permanently replaced. And that would probably signal the end of a strong union at UPS. It's basically the scenario that the company was hoping for last time. Both the Union and the Company realize, hopefully, that another strike would be a disaster for both. The Union would likely win the strike, but the loss in volume would be tremendous, and a lot of union jobs be lost, probably permanently. We give the union the authority to strike because when negotiating with a tough company like UPS, the threat of a strike is really the only leverage the negotiating comittee has. If we hadn't authorized a strike, the company would be perfectly happy to let talks drag on forever, while we worked without a contract, without raises, etc, etc. With no leverage, the union negotiating comitte would basically not be negotiating at all, and eventually would just have to put whatever the company offered up for a vote. It wouldnt matter how awful it was, even if we voted it down, UPS would be under no pressure to offer anything better. It's a shame it has to be that way, but there it is.