I was under the same impression and checked with my LEC reps. The answer was that even if we enter mediation, ALPA and the company can continue to meet without the mediator being present.

That being said though, I agree that the mediator would not make our case a priority until progress slowed significantly. Certainly not while the NC updates are somewhat positive and reporting that things are trending in the right direction.

I'm as frustrated as anyone else and suspect that we are headed for mediation. But I think we've just started playing the game for real in the past few months and our timeline with the NMB would reflect that.

I think there's validity to the argument that requesting mediation now starts the clock. But I also think that the mediation request (like a strike vote) has to be timed to maximize leverage and visibility. We get one shot at each so it has to count. Heading into the summer season would probably make more of an impact than doing it now.