Originally Posted by
av8or
I wasn’t here at the time, but it’s my understanding from those who were, that a negotiator out punting his coverage in negotiations is how we ended up with Kasher.
Here's how Alaska ALPA ended up with the Kashtration: bewilderingly, Alaska ALPA elected to enter into a Letter of Agreement with the company mandating binding arbitration if they couldn't settle on a new contract by December 15, 2004 after entering "expedited" negotiations on June 1, 2004. I'm sure it must have made sense to somebody at the time. But it's hard to fathom how it did.
The background facts in this matter are straight forward and not disputed. ALPA is the exclusive collective bargaining representative for all of Alaska's pilots. The Railway Labor Act,
45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (the "RLA") allows parties to follow their own contractually negotiated procedures for amending their collective bargaining agreements in lieu of the lengthy procedures set forth in the statute. For nearly thirty years, ALPA and Alaska have engaged in interest arbitration concerning various issues they were unable to resolve in direct negotiations. This dispute arises out of the parties' most recent interest arbitration.The parties' collective bargaining agreement was to expire on April 30, 2005. In anticipation of that deadline, they entered into Letter of Agreement 01-02 ("Letter 01-02") and agreed to conduct direct and expedited negotiations regarding wages and other issues. The parties were required to begin their negotiations by June 1, 2004 and complete them by December 15, 2004. Letter 01-02 provided that if ALPA and Alaska were unable to reach an agreement on all of the terms of a new labor contract, they would submit wage rates and not more than ten non-wage issues (five per side) for resolution by a three member arbitration board comprised of one ALPA designee, one Alaska designee, and a neutral member selected by the parties (the "board"). Letter 01-02 set forth various parameters and criteria for the board to apply in fashioning its award.
The parties selected Richard Kasher as the neutral member of the board; he served as the board's chairperson. Mr. Kasher is the former General Counsel of the National Mediation Board. ALPA does not dispute Alaska's assertion that Mr. Kasher has extensive experience and expertise as a labor arbitrator and is highly regarded in the airline industry.
Letter 01-02 stated that the board's decision would be "final and binding." The arbitration hearing was conducted for seven days in March 2005 and involved numerous witnesses and the submission of lengthy pre-hearing statements and post-hearing briefs. The board issued its 64-page decision on April 30, 2005.