Great News on Cat ... My Prediction Was Wrong

Here's the story in Striking Caterpillar Workers Approve Contract:

"JOLIET, Ill.—Workers at a Caterpillar Inc. factory here voted in favor of a new pay offer, a move that will end a strike lasting more than five months, union officials said Friday.

Leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, representing 780 staff at the factory, had rejected the latest offer from the company. Workers went on strike May 1, refusing a proposal that would have frozen wages for workers hired before May 2005.

The strike was viewed as a test of factory workers' willingness to fight downward pressure on wages and benefits at a time when unemployment remains high and strikes have become rare.

The strikers had said it was unfair to ask them for sacrifices when the company is projecting record profit and has given large pay increases to top executives. The total compensation of Douglas Oberhelman, chief executive officer, last year rose 60% to $16.9 million. Five other top executives got raises averaging about 7%. Caterpillar has said the offer it has made to the Joliet workers is "competitive and fair."

During the strike, Caterpillar continued to make hydraulic gear at the plant by using managers and temporary workers."

Summing Up

Hopefully, that's the end of it.

Otherwise it really would have ended up being a terrible outcome for the many good Cat workers.

For those who don't like it and wish to go elsewhere to find work, well, that's their choice.

It's a free country, and one we should all love as a free people.

At least that's my view.

Thanks. Bob.