The city’s transit union is contemplating a strike in order to coerce

Question

The city’s transit union is contemplating a strike in order to coerce the mayor into accepting its workers’ demands for a new contract. However, union leaders are aware that a lack of public support for the union can decrease their leverages in negotiations.

The answer to which of the following questions would be LEAST relevant to the transit union’s consideration of whether to strike or not?

A. Does a significant portion of the city’s population believe the union’s current contract is unfair?
B. Would the transit strike severely inconvenience a great many of the city’s people?
C. Have previous strikes by the city’s transit workers been supported by the city’s residents?
D. Do the residents of the city hold the mayor in high regard?
E. Has the mayor clearly outlined the city’s position on the newcontract?

Source: McGraw-Hill's GMAT

imyuva · Answer

E might be least relevant to the transit union's consideration.

Rest of the statements relies on public interest to support for the union.

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sisirkant · Answer

Why is the answer not D ? Can someone please explain?

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nitesh181989 · Answer

For option D,
If answer is YES, this implies that public is less likely to support the union because they believe that Mayor has taken the correct decision(As people hold the mayor in high regard). And, since public support is an important factor in the success of the strike, as mentioned in the argument, without it the strike is bound to fail.
So this is significant.
If the answer is NO, this implies that public is much more likely to support the union because they would believe that the Mayor hasn't taken the correct decision in regards to the union's demands(because the public believes that the mayor is less likely to make correct decisions as they don't hold him is high regard). So more support from the public implies higher chances of success in the strike.
So this is also significant.

rekhabishop · Answer

If mayor has already outlined the city's position on the new contract, then they city is likely to keep its stand and not favor the strike. So E is relevant too.

nitesh181989 · Answer

Mayor's own position, as an elected representative of the people, can also be referred to as the city's position.

rekhabishop · Answer

I don't quite follow that.

daagh sir, could you please help us out here?

nitesh181989 · Answer

another way to look at this would be:

"Has the mayor clearly outlined the city’s position on the new contract?"

Whatever the answer for the above question may be, either a yes or no, would only tell the union if the city's position has been clearly stated or not. This answer in itself would give no indication of what the position actually is. In order to know that position, a better question would be on the lines of "if the Mayor has outlined the city's position, what is that position?"

Just my two cents...

rekhabishop · Answer

You know, I don't want to assume that the mayor would lie on the position of the city's position. If he simply took their opinion and drafted the new contract accordingly, wouldn't that be helpful to understand the public's response? Rather than twisting it in a zillion ways, if you take it as is, it does impact the union's decision. :shock:

RITESH24 · Answer

simple way to get this answer right - if you focus on the conclusion of the argument it indicates that success of the strike depends on the pubic support ( read the last sentence from however) 
  so we know - public support is the utmost priority  
 coming to question stem it asks which of the following statement is least relevant?
A it is dependent upon whether the significant portion of public think of contract as unfair ( there is a public say in it)relevant
B it talks about the inconvenience of public. relevant
C It asks about whether previous strikes were supported by public.( again public role)relevant
D residents ( public) like mayor or not (again role of public) relevant
E it talks about what mayor has done ( this is not so relevant ) because there is no say of public or any role of public.
 Hope my reasoning is relevant for you:*****

ConfusedSEA · Answer

My response to why E is the least relevant.

Does the mayor outline the city's position:
1. yes: transit union's consideration for a strike is still not answered. It is based on the mayor's outline of the new contract:
no deal- strike happens.
Yes- strike does not happen

2. No: union's response is also unknown

PgRaul · Answer

Still not sure if the option E is correct. If the may or has outlined a new contract, transit Union may or may not strike against the mayor. So it is important to know about the new contract Mayor has put out. Where as option D just says about whether people hold him in high regard. You can hold a person in high regard and still not be obligated to support his decisions. Had the option D been something like people favor Mayor's opinion in high regard, then i would not be so sure.

sayan640 · Answer

MartyMurray   KarishmaB  ANy thoughts on this question ? How come E is least relevant ?

The city’s transit union is contemplating a strike in order to coerce

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The city’s transit union is contemplating a strike in order to coerce

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