A) If UAL ALPA we’re to file for mediation, and then it eventually got released from mediation, then made it through the 30-day cooling off period, and then if the president established a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), that only delays self help by 60 days.

The president cannot extend a PEB past 60 days nor can the president establish a second consecutive PEB. He/she is limited to 60 days. That’s it. In 1990, the first President Bush asked the DOJ if he could perform either of those actions. The answer, according to one of his deputy attorney generals at the time, explained in a detailed 11-page legal opinion, is that the president does not have the unilateral authority to do either.

So, no, the idea that the president can permanently keep us from striking is a myth that arose from the 1997 APA strike when President Clinton established a PEB 24 minutes into their strike, sending them back to work. 32 days later they came to an agreement. Thus, they never went back on strike not because President Clinton had the power to stop them from going back on strike but because they settled their dispute before the 60 days were up.

B) Regarding mediation, the NMB doesn’t have the power to keep us in mediation forever. They do have the power to keep us in mediation for years, though. I don’t have to time to post all of the detailed information behind this right now, but I’ve posted all of it more than once here at APC in the last six weeks. Search my username’s posts if you’re interested in hearing exactly why what I’m stating here is true.