Journalist : Workers at Facsum ....

[gmatalongthewatchtower]

Journalist: Workers at Facsum Inc. have threatened to strike if management does not meet their demands for an immediate 5% pay raise and a paid lunch break. Further, workers are insisting that the company rehire 12 employees who were laid off for complaining about substandard wages and working conditions. It is well-known that Facsum reported that negative profits in 3 of its previous 4 quarterly earnings reports. We believe a strike is inevitable.

Identify an assumption required by the journalist’s argument

(A) The workers would likely be willing to compromise with respect to the paid lunch break.
(B) Facsum is unwilling to negotiate with the workers.
(C) The majority of the losses were due to a significant decline in profit margins.
(D) The 12 laid-off employees were not laid off for any performance-related reasons.
(E) Facsum likely does not have sufficient cash flow or cash reserves to support increased expenses.

This is a question from IR CAT. I am not sure why B) is an incorrect Nec. Assumption?

On the other hand E) looks like a premise booster. We already know the fact that Facsum is reporting losses. SEcondly, logically, why would the workers strike when they already know (assumption - they know the financial status) the bad financial position. In real world, workers strike when they know that their demands can be met by striking. otherwise, why would one strike?

Thoughts?

[tim]

i can't seem to locate this problem in our CAT pool. can you please email me at tsanders@manhattanprep.com with your real name and which exam/problem number you found this on? once i verify that this is actually one of our problems, i will unlock this thread and respond to your questions..