Why no? this is democracy man, it is called voting. 51/49 is a vote. So the minority at the time of the vote doesn't want a vote to be put forward because they lose by a small margin? That's what voting is about.

I am sure the LBF would have passed somewhere between 55/45 to 60/40. If the union knew that the majority would have voted a big NO, they would have brought it to a vote and win a resounding NO. This would have been an amazing weapon against the LBF/company.
But the union knows much more about the general group's opinion than the echo chamber of the MB.