Originally Posted by
Wingnutdal
I'm not very good at public math, but my abacus says 4 years. Pretty close to 5, maybe an exagerration, but certainly not a lie.
Holy cow. OK, let's go over this again. Here is page 16 of the NMB's PowerPoint presentation to
labor:
Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
-----------------------------------------------
Typical Contract Bargaining
...............Cycle
Calculate the time between amendable dates:
ADD:
+ Negotiations Prep after amendable date=0
+ Time in Direct Negotiations=18 months
+ Time in RLA Mediation= 29 months
+ Time in Ratification Process=1 month
+ Time Until Next Amendable Date=4 years
Contract Bargaining Cycle = 8 years
----------------------------------------------
Regarding the second bullet above, this doesn't apply to us because we have in our contract that we will request the NMB's services in 3 months (I believe) after our amendable date. That means around 3/31/2013. Since we've just exchanged openers, that means we'll only have 12 months of direct negotiations.
The third bullet above is really the key because it shows that the NMB process is not a bottomless pit of surrender for labor.
Now for the math. After our contract's amendable date, we'll have a maximum of 3 more months of direct negotiations, then 29 months (typical) of NMB involvement before self-help could commence. 29 plus 3 is 32 months. Not even 3 years. Would you not be willing to fight hard for 32 months if management decided to play hard ball? This is really important to understand, and NOT believe what the sailingfun's are trying to spew about the NMB process taking 5 or more years and a no-win situation for labor.
Carl