FrankGol has just incisively said absolutely nothing as usual. The caterpillar analogy was an attempt on my part to intellectualise the overview of what actually happens (as opposed to what is ideal) in the union/employer domain. The point I wanted to make is that, no matter how separated in time the ebb and flow is, eveything gets evened up.

Now, we know you get your jollies, FrankGol, in ridiculing anything that remotely approaches a realistic viewpoint. Relevance deprivation syndrome at work, perhaps?