In the 2012 Machinists’-Caterpillar confrontation, the workers’ average pay was $26 per hour.

If their demand for a 1.5% pay hike per year had been granted, what would their hourly wage have been

(a) In the following year?

(b) Three years later?

Caterpillar offered the machinists a one-time bonus of $5,000 if they didn’t strike. Assuming the machinists worked an average of 2,000 hours per year, was this more or less than the wage demand the union made for

(c) The first year?

(d) The first three years?