They're doing it to appeal to the younger workers.

[The strikers are on their own against] a very determined employer and a large pool of replacement workers, ... If things remain the same and continue on this path, then the strike would be doomed.

This is probably as bad as it gets for a union leader. He's in a fight with no allies.

Quite bluntly, to an auto worker at General Motors or an airline worker facing demands for concessions, this doesn't mean a hell of a lot, ... Their concern is 'can my union deliver at the bargaining table?' I can't think of any union that would really be hurt at the bargaining table.

In organizing itself I see a tremendous increase in the reinventing of the labor movement as the heir of the civil rights movement. I think it's the recasting of the labor movement in a way that I haven't seen in many years.

They are trying to do an end-run around the union and go directly to the membership, ... They believe that what they're doing is acceptable to the membership, but not to the leadership.