[5] In August 1986, Jerome K. Green, President of Case IH, one of Deere's competitors, declared "The farm equipment market will bottom out in 1986, and there are some good things going on that will make 1987 begin to turn up.
UAW Vice President Bill Casstevens, one of the contract negotiators, speaking of the motivations for the strike said, "The major issues are still job security, adequate improvements in the pension and the company's attempt to emasculate our cost-of-living provisions."
[13] Following the lockout, the UAW instructed the 8,000 workers who weren't part of the original 4300 authorized to strike to file for unemployment benefits.
UAW Local 434 President Bob Bowling stated the campaign was a reaction designed to counter Deere's press appearances regarding the dispute.
[14] On Tuesday, September 2, the UAW alleged that Deere was delaying negotiations to allow itself to sell off inventory saying "Management's approach to these negotiations appears to have been designed to avoid reaching an agreement and forcing us into a protracted strike, all in a misguided effort not only to pressure your union into accepting a substandard agreement but to reduce swollen inventories of unsold equipment ... something which management has repeatedly assured us it would not do."
Archival footage shows police warning off news media from a picket line of UAW Local 79 members.
"[1] At 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 28, UAW and Deere representatives reopened negotiations after discussing rules and scheduling the previous day.
[20] On Friday, November 21, the UAW indefinitely recessed negotiations with Deere citing a complete lack of understanding by the company in the 26 days.
UAW official Bill Casstevens said the union found "no meaningful progress toward an equitable settlement", and accused the company of bad-faith negotiations saying "It is now apparent that Deere's request to resume negotiations, and a recent letter sent to Deere employees, amounted to nothing more than a cruel public relations ploy by the company".
The company offered what Deere spokesman Bob Shoup called a "comprehensive new contract proposal", and wished the union to review it.
[24][25] The next day on Thursday, December 4, an estimated 700 striking UAW members held a peaceful mock funeral at Deere company headquarters in Moline, Illinois.
UAW Local 94 (Dubuque, Iowa) president Pat Dillon told the assembled workers "The mutual relationship between Deere and Company and the union has been non-existent the last four months.
The demonstration involved a hearse, coffin, pallbearers, the bugling of Taps, headstone reading "RIP UAW-JD team work", and a Christmas tree covered in worker's John Deere hats.
The Rock Island County deputy sheriffs and Illinois State Police observed alongside Deere's private security without interacting.
The same day, Deere's Board allowed UAW officials, most notably Bill Casstevens, to present directly to them in a private session lasting 50 minutes.
The agreement had potential to end the strike pending ratification by a union member vote, which was scheduled to take place the following weekend.
Deere spokesman Bob Shoup stated the company was "very pleased" with the agreement, but that the strike had injured company-union relations, which he said would require "a little time to heal, and they will".
[25][30] On Sunday, February 1, the tentative agreement, a 20-month contract, was ratified with the support of 84 percent of the 10,651 UAW member votes ending the strike.
[29][31] On February 2, approximately 9,250[iv] active UAW members returned to Deere facilities, some overnight shifts as early as midnight.
Deere spokesman Bob Shoup said the company believed production would be back to normal "in a matter of a couple weeks".
[32] On March 12, 1987, an Associated Press article published in The New York Times tied the recently resolved Deere dispute, which it called a "combination strike and lockout", with a month-long strike at the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and a six-month lockout by USX Corporation of the United Steelworkers of America.
The Times wrote, "In all three cases, the companies were demanding further wage and benefit cuts, elimination of annual cost-of-living adjustments, or an end to restrictions on their ability to farm out work to nonunion suppliers".