What enlightenment do you seek, grasshopper? How they "tricked" us into voting overwhelmingly for the contract extensions? My read is that they made a decision based on the information that they had at the time (and their human ability to prognosticate the future) that the contract extensions were on balance a good idea. I have no idea whether they were right or not. My inclination is to think that the first one maybe so, the second probably not, but that's with the benefit of hindsight, which they didn't have.

I can't see into the future any better than they can. What I can see is that these guys signed up to serve the larger group and are doing their best at it, which is why the "tricked" verbiage is so annoying. You are of course free to disagree with their judgment, and I think it's a sign of a healthy union that you exercise that freedom. But unless you have some sort of evidence that they're "secretly working for The Company" or whatever other nonsense, do us all a favor and dispense with the tinfoil hat stuff.

You could even run for office.