Originally Posted by
Jesse
That being said, I don't understand why a union wouldn't have justification to go out on strike way before it got to the 5 year point. Maybe they did have the justification, but decided to keep on keepin' on. Can't say I'd be one to vote for going along with that mentality.
That's the thing about negotiations under the RLA. The union doesn't get to decide when they've had enough, the National Mediation Board (NMB) decides. Unfortunately from what I've heard, the NMB got annoyed at APA and their shooting for the moon strategy, so they basically put them into "Timeout" and told them to figure what they really wanted before they talked to the company again.
The NMB board will let a union strike, theoretically, but (a) under Bush administration that wasn't going to happen and (b) the NMB has to believe both sides are presenting a reasonable offer and are actually trying to talk. It seems that they decided the APA wasn't acting in good faith.