I predict that Deere will use a strike as an excuse to move even more production overseas.  They don't want to pay more now because they can already get production with cheaper labor elsewhere.

We made a major mistake in the 1980's by deciding to become a service society instead of a manufacturing society.  We ended up enriching our competitors and now we can no longer compete with them.

The USA has become the most expensive country to manufacture anything in and the global shipping has grown to the point of moving anything to this country for rates that are far too cheap to ignore.

Consider Caterpillar. They build their excavators in Japan and ship most of them right over to the good ol' USA.  The product is of very high quality and arrives on our shores at a much lower cost than if manufactured in this country.  Cat can not build them here nearly as profitably as they can build them abroad and ship them here.

Very soon, all John Deere parts will be sourced off-shore, and most of the equipment will be too.  I will not be surprised if all of the big ticket items will be foreign born before long.

The unions can strike and complain about low wages, benefits, etc.  However, the reality of the market place will prevail, and the union bosses will be in the unemployment line along with their members.