any compensation increases. Boeing took a hard line in defense of its positions. The company adopted this hard line position partly on principle (it did not want to push-up base wage rates), and partly because it thought that the employees were on its side; that it was the union leaders more than the workers who wanted increases in base wage rates. As it turned out, Boeing badly misjudged the position of its employees.
ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM
There are any number of specific solutions which could have been applied to the Boeing-IAM dispute. The three specific solutions presented below apply to the compensation aspect of the dispute.
1. One compromise solution which was feasible was for the company to yield on compensation levels, and accept the union demand. At the same time, the union would yield on the method of payment, and accept the company's position of paying the increase in the form of
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