Inflation here? gas/grocery prices just continue to climb

During negotiations for the contract with my employer, I had a doctor's appointment scheduled on a day when we were supposed to have been finished. I left with about a half hour remaining. As I was driving I got a call about"great news!"

Those who stuck around were excited to have negotiated a $5,000 signing bonus. I said "Wow! It was like pulling teeth to get the raises, and you managed that in a half hour?"

They gave away the first year's raise in exchange. 🤨

I was, and am, furious. A napkin, pen, and a remidial knowledge of math should have been enough to shut that down.

If a company states that it's their final offer, we have to present it for a vote. I begged the members to vote no so that I could get the first year's raise back. The response that I got was "when do we get the money."

Now, everybody criticizes the contract and says that we (the union) screwed them. Nobody admits to voting for it.

Vote no if you don't like it.
I was on the negotiating committee for a very tense and dramatically shifting contract and it was amazing how little effort some people made to understand just how crappy the proposals from management were.

We wound up salvaging somewhat decent raises, but lost on the very, very big ticket item because of much the same attitudes you describe.

I would've thought the company (and I use that term very loosely) would never do what they did because (a) they didn't need to and (b) it kinda goes against the very nature of what they do and what they stand for.