CATERPILLAR'S 12,600 STRIKING WORKERS IN PEOria, Ill., must have felt last week as if one of the company's mammoth earthmovers had just rolled over them. Despite the United Auto Workers' $800 million war chest (which could have provided up to $60,000 in benefits for every family on the picket line), the five-month-long siege suddenly collapsed. The union leadership failed to gain a single demand on wage and medical-care issues. The employees had to wait to be summoned back to work, while the company considered eliminating more than a thousand jobs. Many U.A.W. members seemed as bitter over the terms of their...
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