Ted...always enjoy reading your posts. But I will respectfully disagree with your insinuation that JB's "mean lady" basically arbitrated our current PWA.

First off, very minor point but we negotiate under the auspices of the NMB because we are subject to the Railway Labor Act (RLA) rather than the much more labor-friendly (legislatively directed, even) National Labor Relations Board. Think UAW who was permitted to and actually did strike this year.

I know what you are trying to say with regard to arbitration but having actually been involved in the process before, this wasn't even close to a collective bargaining agreement arbitration decision - ask Alaska Airlines pilots how their arbitration went in 2005. Arbitration is basically a non-jury civil trial where the arbitrator acts as a judge and jury and both sides present their proposals on a limited number of "stalemated" issues (usually pay stuff) through written "briefs" (ironically, not so brief) and oral argument. The arbitrator takes the two sides' arguments and decides which side wins (no middle ground in final binding arbitration) and then crafts a written decision explaining why he/she/they picked one side over the other. That's it...that's your new agreement on those issues (again, ask Alaska pilots how that binding decision went in 2005). Once the decision is handed down, it is extremely difficult to successfully appeal the decision of an arbitrator. JB's scary lady was a scary couples' counselor who likely favored the positions of one spouse over the other, but she was no judge and jury.