Originally Posted by
Gspeed
Yes but the NMB is disinterested in management/labor groups who show up with a long list of disagreements. I know this because I personally know one current and one former mediator. If management has a long list and thinks the NMB is gonna solve it for them, then they will have a rude awakening. The same goes for us.
I posted this earlier. I doubt the NMB will put more than a token effort into our mediation for at least the next year.
With only a dozen mediators to work on hundreds of rail and airline employee groups, the NMB places a high premium on only assigning mediators to a frequent bargaining schedule when it believes the union and management are close to what it calls the “zone of reasonableness” – in plain terms, when the two sides have moved away from their opening positions, have finished bargaining on the majority of their contract and are closer to compromise on the remaining items. Usually a mediator will not be assigned until the parties have only a few open items left to bargain; of course, these are often also the most critical, time-intensive contract sections like pay, benefits and scope.