Wars of Attrition
- Frank Weber
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
By Frank Weber
Copyright ©2025
Wars of attrition are doomed propositions.
Further, they are invariably doomed to complete and absolute failure.
Absolute in the vein that the very people the war claims to protect are the only people that will EVER suffer from it.
The people that will suffer are the poor folks that put all of their trust in their leaders to go to the table and get them the best deal possible.
Sadly, they HAVE to – they elected those ‘leaders’ with the belief that those ‘leaders’ held everyone’s welfare in regard. And now they’re stuck in the middle and forced to trust.
Yet, those ‘leaders’ RARELY take on ANY suffering for themselves.
No show of solidarity.
No show of unity.
No care aside from making sure that their constituents live by the war as the ‘leaders’ have directed them to do.
Wars of attrition are padded and banked with lofty speeches and unattainable goals, but the worst part of a war of attrition is that the ones in power and position to wage it KNOW this BEFORE they start.
Coincidentally, the ‘leaders’ that wage wars of attrition – and ONLY those few individuals with the power to do so – are the ONLY ones that stand to benefit from it.
Of course, the other side of the table will always stand to gain from it – and in most cases those gains can be substantial.
Hell, if you’re stuck in difficult negotiations and the other side says, “Damn it! We’re at an impasse! Everything stops right here and now until we get our way!”, what better prospect do you have for getting YOUR needs and wants? And getting them WITHOUT having to give up any heartburn issues from your side of the table?
Yes, a war of attrition is a failure before it begins.
I do know from which I speak.
For twenty years, I was The Manager of Labor Relations for a manufacturing company.
I negotiated across the table from the UAW (United Auto Workers).
This is a tough, no nonsense bunch. A solid union among unions.
Yet, for several of those years, our negotiations were held hostage by a war of attrition waged by the elected local officers. When it began, the membership went along. There was nothing else they could do about it. All of them fell short of any sign of conviction when it came to questioning those officers, or even worse, challenging them. So, the union said, “Damn it! We’re at an impasse! Everything stops right here! We’ll be back in touch for a possible next meeting, but we’re good with the status quo!”
And so it went. And went. And went.
At first, the membership rattled those same sabers. They would inconveniently call in sick or just not show up for work. They would take turns having to inconveniently leave early for made-up emergencies. They already knew how to work the attendance policy, so they played it best they could. That only lasted a few weeks.
Then open enrollment time came around. At that time, the healthcare providers were regularly juicing the public for upwards of a minimum of 20% increase. No, that is not a typo. 20%.
The company had always worked to keep the membership’s premiums at the lowest possible rate, requiring an 80-20 split of the cost. It was part of the contract.
It was pretty much boiler-plate for a vast number of companies at the time.
BUT…when a labor agreement enters a ‘status quo’ it means that NOTHING changes from the existing contract. The labor agreement defines wages, pensions (they had a DBP at that time) and, of course, healthcare.
In other words, there was absolutely NOTHING to offset the insurance company increases.
NOTHING.
The ‘leaders’ kept banging the drum that they MUST hold out.
They kept preaching that the company WILL cave at any time.
The company took it as a cost savings. We still honored the 80-20 split but gave ZERO concessions during the status quo. ZERO. Why would we? We were required to honor the status quo.
Their ‘leaders’ claimed that they HAD to hold out so that each member could get an immediate five dollar an hour raise, a 90-10 premium split and a ten-dollar addition to the defined benefit multiplier. These were just a few of the promises they made to their guys.
The war of attrition and its resulting status quo lingered on for several years in all.
And it cost the union membership dearly in its wake.
No increase in wages was ever attained to offset insurance premiums and the cost of living.
FAILURE.
No change was ever made to the healthcare premium split, and it stayed at 80-20, but each year tacked on an additional 20% increase.
FAILURE.
No increase was ever made to the defined benefit plan. As a matter of fact, it was frozen in time with all new hires required to enroll in a 401k.
FAILURE.
The local union lost so much money, they could not have even gone out on strike if they were able. It should be noted that this labor agreement prohibited any form of strike without very specific criteria being met – ‘no walk out/ lock out’. It was a large part of my job to make sure that ‘strikable’ situations never had a chance to happen. I was good at my job.
And so the union membership suffered for years and suffered a great deal.
Meanwhile, the local officers would routinely take half-days from work claiming ‘union business’ when they were actually out fishing. They actually began to boast to the membership that they were blowing off work to “stick it to the company”.
So misguided and so destructive and so heartless a mentality to come from elected officers toward their membership.
Eventually, the membership became too punch-drunk to carry on any longer, but by the time the membership finally elected new blood to their bargaining committee, it was far too late for any hope of recouping their mammoth losses.
The war of attrition was abandoned in the hopes that the company would now take care of the membership that made business a constant irritation and hardship for it over the previous years.
They believed they would be made whole for all of the money they lost from their war attrition – including all that they proclaimed to be lost wages due to the status quo.
No dice. It doesn’t work that way.
Besides, that would never happen anyway.
This particular company maintained – throughout its entire existence – a policy of ‘no retroactivity from negotiations’. Past practice, of course, prevailed once again.
We did increase wages to within the local averages. Their pay settled exactly where it would have been had they taken the company’s offer in the first place, but not a cent more.
I found a much better healthcare plan that ended up dropping all of our premiums going forward.
New employees immediately began to benefit from the 401k plan and all of its trimmings.
The defined benefit plan froze solid and after another ten years, there were only two left that still held it. There was never any multiplier addition made.
And my personal claim-to-fame is that I was able to sign agreement, get ratified and install the company’s right to abolish any past practice it finds outdated or irrelevant.
That clause was still in the labor agreement when I left the company.
So, the world did begin to turn again, but it did not turn the way those ‘leaders’ preached it would. So woefully far from it.
Those ‘leaders’ hurt their ‘people’ for their own immediate gain and benefit.
Those ‘leaders’ hurt their ‘people’ in an attempt to increase their own power by defying management.
Those ‘leaders’ hurt their ‘people’ as the sole result of their own hubris.
Never forget that hubris is fatal.
Bottom line is that in the beginning, a war of attrition may seem like the only option. It may even seem like the most attractive, profitable option.
I can assure you it is not.
So, before you rattle that saber and scream, “We're shutting down until you give us everything we want!”, remember that wars of attrition are invariably doomed to complete and absolute failure.