After weeks of a lack of shared information that frustrated rank-and-file members, the UAW International and the Deere Council, made up of local union leaders, told Deere its unilateral offer was a nonstarter and demanded bargaining instead. The union’s counter-offer was substantially richer than Deere’s: 5 percent pay raises instead of 4 percent, two 3 percent lump sums instead of one, roll the cost-of-living adjustment into the base wage off of which everything else is calculated, a $2,000 contribution to retirement accounts for each year of service, and, perhaps most irksome to the company, “no more work or product will be outsourced.” As of now, the union is planning a membership vote on August 23, presumably on Deere’s original offer, three days after Deere plans to announce its…