MEC Negotiating Committee Update
The Transition and Process Agreement (TPA) outlined a timeline that was intended to have a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) completed by October 5. As the ALPA Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) stated last week and it has said before, this was an ambitious goal but the JNC would not rush into a JCBA for the sake of a deadline. Section 2-K of the TPA also provides for automatic application to the NMB for mediation unless the parties, both management and the ALPA JNC, agree otherwise on October 14.
As October 14 comes into sight, the JNC began considering the addition of a federal National Mediation Board (NMB) mediator. NMB mediation is a useful tool at the appropriate time. If requested too soon, the negotiating process can be less productive for several reasons. The mediator will not likely be able to meet as regularly as the JNC; and while there may be an agreement to continue to meet when the mediator is not available, it is not uncommon for parties to withhold proposals for the benefit of the mediator. After careful consideration and following discussions with the United and Continental MECs this week, the ALPA JNC has agreed to delay its application for mediation to the NMB until December 17, 2010. All parties, including management, have agreed to the December 17 date as the utilization of mediated services is not yet necessary and continuing the negotiating process will serve the best interests of the parties. While the ALPA JNC would have preferred to reach agreement by October 12, the JNC does not consider the delay for mediation as a setback as negotiations continue to progress.
An explanation as to how some of the factors have impacted the progress of the ongoing negotiations includes the following.
First, due to anti-trust regulations prior to the merger closing, management has been unable to discuss, even between the two Companies, the future network or business plan of the new United. This has caused some delays in forthright responses to some of the JNC’s proposals. This is no longer the case post merger closing, and the Company has committed to meet with the JNC and its subject matter experts and provide them with a complete briefing on the aspects of the new airline. The Company has indicated that it needs time to finalize its briefing and this overview will be complete the week of October 25.
Secondly, in the
October 1, 2010 Update to the pilots, the JNC stated that nearly all sections of the JCBA have been presented to the Company. The only outstanding sections that have not been passed to the Company are Compensation (Section 3), Duration (Section 25) which is tied to Compensation, Definitions (Section 2), and General (Section 21). The latter two will be held toward the end to admit any final terms or conditions that have not otherwise been included. The ALPA JNC Compensation (Section 3) proposal has not yet been passed to the company since there is currently a lack of consensus on a Compensation proposal from the JNC. The JNC is continuing its work on these final sections. While there has been no consensus reached to date by the JNC concerning a compensation proposal, a process is in place to facilitate resolution.
The JNC has worked together for the past five months on all sections of the contract, and they continue to work very well together for the benefit of the more than 12,500 merged pilots of the new United.
If the JNC decides that negotiations with the Company are no longer fruitful or are losing momentum, they will allow the December 17 trigger to trip an application to the NMB. This date will allow the NMB to act upon the application prior to government shutdown for the Christmas holidays. The JNC will continue to keep its pilots informed of the JCBA’s negotiations and progress.