More to the political point, only two of France's five big unions have accepted the deal.
The big unions are in denial about the new environment.
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The big teaching unions could still walk away from negotiations and pursue industrial action.
He says he would break the big five unions' statutory stranglehold on representation in companies.
The big teaching unions have echoed Mr Brennan's warnings about a two-tier system.
That trio trounced Michigan's traditional Democratic powerhouses, the big trade unions and urban black groups, who both largely backed her opponents.
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It is the first time this latest industrial action by the two big teaching unions in England and Wales has escalated to a full strike.
That something was the announcement of a plan to merge America's two big teachers' unions.
The GOP are poised to win big by dismantling unions completely.
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The other airline with bankruptcy looming that's in big trouble with unions is Delta, whose stock slid Monday following a memo the company sent to its pilots' union Friday night.
The other airline with bankruptcy looming that's in big trouble with unions is Delta (nyse: DAL - news - people ), whose stock slid Monday following a memo the company sent to its pilots' union Friday night.
Judging by the large sums of outside money that have poured in from political action committees, unions and big corporate donors, it is widely seen as a proxy war over the future of the unions.
It was the big public-sector unions which squashed the 2005 reforms proposed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, then California's governor.
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But those centrist voters soon let him down: a series of reforms were easily defeated by the big public-sector unions in 2005.
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Both businesses and unions have big bureaucracies tied to today's set-up.
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Public unease has been heightened recently by several high-profile battles between the managers of some big German firms and unions and workers' representatives over cost-cutting plans.
Some Republicans have also suggested giving small businesses the power to pool together and offer health care at lower prices, just as big companies and labor unions do.
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Small firms are to be granted a bit more influence over the industry-wide agreements on pay and conditions that are foisted on them by unions and big business.
As well as wage cuts and 1, 000 lay-offs, the mayor needs big concessions from the unions, ranging from pensions and health-care reform to changes in restrictive work rules.
Democrats held a big financial edge as labor unions, liberal interest groups and wealthy donors opened their wallets.
In fact, big money from corporations and unions was shut out of federal campaigns by the 2002 campaign finance law.
Prison guard unions are also big supporters of tough-on-crime policies, and opponents of policies that would lead to fewer criminals, fewer prisons, and fewer prison guard jobs.
Ms Whitman and Ms Fiorina will attack the Democrats for being liberal career politicians, pawns of the unions and of big government at a time when California needs corporate heroines.
In particular, the desire of Republicans to get the unions to agree to big pay cuts could still prove a deal-breaker.
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The teachers' unions bring two other big assets to the political battlefield.
All major unions have signed up in the NHS. Some teaching unions but not the big two - the NUT and NASUWT - have reached agreement.
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