Originally Posted by
kingair35
I read that the average time in mediation is 29 months, and that is outside of the direct negotiations that have already taken place.
Seems like this whole process has been extremely well played on the company's part. I mean, over two years of negotiations have netted pretty much cost neutral TA's. It comes as no surprise that once the big money discussions start, things melt down quickly and now we are in mediation that is non-binding.
In my opinion, we were in a labor dispute the day we filed for section 6 negotiations. I find it interesting that our union is still not considering us in a full blown labor dispute and is waiting till the "end of the year" to consider it as such.
Regardless, this process is going to take a very very long time to settle. Anyone under the impression that JetBlue management is "different", and will go to any cost to protect its "brand" are seriously mistaken.
Suit up, show up, fly SOP.
Average mediation is 29 months based on what? Airlines only or does that include all union negotiations?
At the rally, the negotiators were clear that this was why we DIDN'T want to go straight to mediation like some of us here have been calling for. With only a few items left for the NMB to help us resolve, they'll hopefully be motivated to help us move the process as quickly as possible. The NMB wants to take care of it and get it off their docket as quickly as possible, assuming they're legitimate issues. If we went to the NMB with issues like administrative sections remaining they wouldn't take us seriously and would not devote as many resources to us to resolve our contract.