Unions and their membership are listening and yielding to economic realities. This article examines the process of concession bargaining and its likely outcomes. The process includes establishing the rationale for reopening the current agreement, timing, special proposals, unions' concerns, and areas for mutual agreement. (Author/MLF)

Concessions or "give-backs" by unions highlighted three major bargaining agreements, covering nearly one million workers, concluded in the first months of 1982. The bargaining agreements reveal union willingness to make major pay concessions. (Author/MLF)