Here's my take, for what it's worth???....and in order to make my point I will use a recent life scenario as an analogy.
My wife accompanied me to test drive a used vehicle at a dealership last weekend, a car we were considering for a third vehicle, as my oldest daughter just got her temps and needed a smaller vehicle to learn on and eventually drive when she gets her license.
On the way there, I told my wife to please walk away anytime the sales people and I started talking price or terms, if the test drive went well.
She agreed, knowing that she tends to be a bit impetuous, and myself being a better "negotiator".
This system worked for us, because we discussed what we wanted in this car going in.....for this analogy, let's call these needs "proposals".
Turned out this vehicle was everything we were looking for in regards to our "proposals", with the price being initially too high, but eventually "negotiated" to an acceptable number, although there were a few minor mechanical issues that needed to be addressed.
When the dealership and myself could not come to an agreement on the necessary repairs, I decided to walk.....which is an "impass".
This is when I owed it to my wife a detailed explain of my position, accompanied by her agreeing or disagreeing that we should walk....the equivalent of a "strike vote".
Eventually, with my wife's blessing (ratified strike vote), we left and went home.
Ultimately, the dealership called us back and met all but one of my conditions, to which I considered "reasonable".....which is a "tentative agreement".
I then took this "tentative agreement" to my wife for her approval as well.....(a "bargaining unit vote").
When she gave her approval, we had a deal....a "ratified contract".
In the end, had I (the negotiator) included my wife (the bargaining unit) in every aspect of this process, she would have likely fell victim to many of the dealership's (the Company) various sales ploys, misdirection, and innuendo, severely compromising "the deal".
But as it turned out, our system earned us a better deal.
It's never good to have "too many cooks in the kitchen".
Btw, the only gripe I have to date in these UPS negotiations, is that we didn't get a detailed explaination as to why we were asked to give "The Committee" strike authorization.
The IBT simply has not earned this type of carte blanche consideration in any other recent UPS negotiations, but they got it anyway.....I certainly hope they don't make us sorry, again.
With this in mind, I will wait for a "tentative agreement" before I draw any conclusions or pimp a no vote.
No.
