Originally Posted by
Baradium
So which one of those groups was released? And there is much debate about the Spirit contract about whether it was a good deal or not. I'm not a Spirit pilot so I'm not going to judge it, but I overheard one today talking about work rules changes.
At the time of their vote, Pinnacle had the higher strike authorization vote in ALPA history. They also had the longest ongoing contract negotiation afterwards too.
I'm not decrying giving a good showing for the strike authorization vote, just saying that doesn't prove anything with regards to "they have to release you."
Dude, bro, man...
I think you're missing the point. The idea is you demonstrate a resolve to your respective company that you will strike if need be. No one wants to strike. The fact that Spirit got a 40% pay raise without having to go further in the RLA process suggests that perhaps their company knew that their pilots would take it all the way if they had to.
Notice that their company wrapped up their agreement at about the two-year point in mediation. After two years in mediation, assuming their union had bargained in good faith and been available and willing to meet, they would have begun to met the minimum time requirement that the federal courts would maybe begin to consider taking action if petitioned to do so and if they found the NMB was acting in a patently arbitrary and unreasonable manner.
And nobody said the federal courts "have to release you". Where did you get that idea? Why did you put that in quotes? Who were you quoting? The courts don't ever have to do anything. There are no guarantees in court.
No, the courts do not have to release you. However, they do have the power to do so if they determine the NMB is acting in bad faith. Again, read the opinion of the judge in the case I cited. The RLA was not meant to completely strip labor of its right to ever strike. It was meant to slow the drive toward a strike down so that the chance of an interruption of interstate commerce is minimized.
Please read what I wrote and don't put words in my mouth.