Originally Posted by
aa73
^^^ exactly. Funny how they keep slipping the deadlines and suddenly coming off the peg with items that were previously crossed out as "non negotiable." These actions speak volumes about their true intent.
Still some negotiating left to be done. The latest offer still falls well short but the company is starting to realize that we're not going to roll over and blindly accept their substandard proposals, and as we approach the very thing they love to threaten with - arbitration - they are going to have to scramble to avoid it.
As I've been saying all along, the company loses a lot more in arbitration than we do. Apparently there are more than a few items the company wants that they won't get in arbitration.
I agree that a deal will be reached...hopefully a good deal that we can pass. But I believe that's only possible by taking it all the way down to the wire. Therein lies our leverage. We should be hearing something soon, otherwise it's going to be another mad scramble by the company to "kick the can" merrily through Christmas.
Christmas can-kicking is possible, even likely. APA has previously made a "mid-December" (end of this coming week) schedule in the timeline, but also has muddied that water by saying they are willing to negotiate as long as Parker is. The strategy for Parker may be to spoon feed extremely minor items, yet not proffer arbitration (or threaten its imminence) until after the holidays thus leading the APA down a primrose path. It's another one of the bad places they've put themselves in with regard to leverage and strategy. The are still playing by Parker and Glasses rules. If Glassker isn't willing to make some meaningful changes by the end of next week, APA needs to disengage and make a statement indicating Glassker isn't willing to make any meaningful changes and that they are awaiting an imminent announcement by Glassker of their intention to proffer arbitration. If they proffer, fine. If they don't, well...............that says A LOT about their interest in it.
APA needs to stop their milquetoast approach when dealing with the serpent.
Any claims of "Section 6" being a relationship factor here are irrelevant and simply an excuse for intransigence. EVERYTHING is negotiable. Managements and unions negotiate Letters-of-Agreement (LOA) that affect contractual items all the time outside section 6. By end of next week, we need to commit to one direction or the other.