So....if production is not being affected, then why does the company need 800 union employees at all?
I bet Catepillar is sloughing off the layers of dead skin bit by bit and showing the union employees that they really are replaceable if they were even needed in the first place. If this strike is anything like the steel union strikes in central OH (many years ago), the strikers will never return to work, the quality and quantity of production will increase without the union, the union will say how the company can’t survive without their greatness, and 20 years later the union workers are still out of a job because they swallowed the union cult kool-aid.
My fingers are crossed that Catepillar is busting the union and hopefully have the upper hand.