Originally Posted by
Denny Crane
Well when is the last time it's taken months for a mediator to be assigned to one of our Contract negotiations? I can't remember a time that it hasn't happened fairly quickly.
It seems to me that, with a company as large as we are and as important to the economy, they want to get a resolution as quickly as possible and try to set a fairly aggressive schedule. Now what happens during those first few meetings can set the pace. But initially I think they will get involved fairly quickly.
What happens in the long run could very well be a different story. I hope the Scope arbitrations are decided fairly soon and that the Arbitrator decides in the Unions favor.......heavily. Consistently violating the Contract and doing nothing about it will stand in our favor.
Denny
I don’t see it taking too long to get a mediator assigned. The key will be the meeting schedule. For TA2, we went in with relatively few open items and they had experience with the previous MC. They were willing to set an aggressive meeting schedule due to those factors.
Compare that with groups that have gone in with a long laundry list of items that were unresolved and a MC or Pres (APA/Loyd Hill) that they feel is unlikely to negotiate, and the NMB will barely give you the time of day.
Now, this is not an absolute. If the company is the problem and they are stonewalling on every issue and we are the reasonable party involved, we get more time. On the other hand, if we are the ones that aren’t truly negotiating, they will have no problem letting us live under the current PWA.
All one needs to do is go back and look at the bargaining cycles of all the different pilot groups in mediation the last 15 years to see the trend.