Jointly agreeing to apply for mediation in March after a Dec. 31 amendable date has been part of our contract for a couple of cycles now.

I really don't see how it is a bad thing and it may be a good thing. If the company really wants to get a deal, they can when we re-engage. If a deal is close when the time to apply rolls around, I'm sure an LOA could be reached to delay application. If not, I think it's better to get into mediation sooner. It's one of the steps we have to go through in the process. It's unavoidable so why not get into it ASAP?

Denny