Originally Posted by
FDX1
Totally disagree. Other posters to your thread understand what just occurred. Clearly, you are having trouble seeing the strategy.
Expedited mediation was well played - excellent timing. Progress was still being made back in May 2022 as the NC grid clearly shows.
it would have been foolish to ask for mediation (traditional or expedited) while good progress was still being made in direct negotiations.
Politics injected into this by some are self serving and lowered my views on the candidate.
We can agree to disagree.
This was not well played! We got played, just like 2011.
There were only 12 sections opened for these Section 6 negotiations. We are now in our 18th month of negotiations. If the expedited negotiations were played well by anyone, it was the company. Now, we wait for the NMB to review the filing, assign a mediator, schedule individual meeting with both sides to hear their positions, and then set up an aggressive set of meetings to hopefully come to an agreement. How long do you think that will take? Do you think all of that will be done before December?
In April, we were down to a couple of items in two sections, plus the big three money sections, and duration of the agreement. The company gave just enough to make the MEC think that they could get an agreement soon. Then the MEC said that they needed to see an agreement by the end of August or they would start taking other steps. Now October is here and they are asking for expedited mediation. That is no guarantee of an agreement. Then what happens if there is no agreement. More time is wasted. When we were down to so few items in May, instead of agreeing to more sessions, we should have made that request. If something wasn't done by the end of August, the MEC should have been asking for a strike vote. They continually state that the company hasn't changed our retirement since 1998. What makes them or any of us think that they are going to make a change for us without a fight. Our leverage is our peak shipping season. If shippers are afraid that we may be allowed or are in favor of striking, they will make other plans. The share holders would not be happy. There would be more urgency to get a deal done. But instead, the MEC got strung along. Now we have been placed in holding just waiting for an updated EFC.