Originally Posted by Lewbronski

Not necessarily true.

You all have already been in mediation since Jan 2020. That’s nearly three years. If you were to continue in mediation for, as you ponder, another three years, the argument could be made well before that point that the NMB was exhibiting “patent official bad faith” by keeping the dispute in mediation, as a 1970 federal appeals court explained, “on a basis that is completely and patently arbitrary and for a period that is completely and patently unreasonable.” That same court explained that if the NMB exceeded its authority in the manner described, the courts have the right to intervene and force the NMB to terminate mediation.

You don’t “have zero power to secure timely contracts.” The RLA is NOT slanted against labor. Like almost any other endeavor in life, though, it IS slanted against those who don’t take the time to understand the game they’re trying to play or the system in which they’re trying to achieve victory. Unions can, if they want to, use the legal advantages afforded to them by the RLA to create leverage for themselves.

A major problem, though, is that I doubt there are more than a handful of pilots at each pilot group that understand or are familiar with information like the above. On the other hand, I bet most of the negotiating team and their paid airline labor law consultants at every major airline are deeply acquainted with all of the above and all of the case law that bears upon RLA negotiations.

The RLA doesn’t “[give] all the power to the company.” The overwhelming majority of pilots never even once in their careers devote a chunk of time and energy to thoroughly understand the law that plays the starring role in their ability to battle the company in the determination of their career compensation and quality of life (days per month spent at work, hours per day, vacation, benefits, etc, etc, etc). THAT is what “gives all the power to the company.”