Both Sides Agree To Private Mediation
 

There was movement last week with respect to the negotiation of a Protocol Agreement with APA and the Company. The NMB asked the parties (APA, USAPA and the Company) to meet with NMB Chief of Staff Dan Rainey. The meeting took place in Washington, D.C., at the NMB on Wednesday, July 23. At the meeting Mr. Rainey suggested the parties engage in private mediation concerning the Protocol Agreement.

Mediation is a process in which the mediator assists the parties in reaching a voluntary resolution. The mediator has no authority to compel any party to make any agreement.

The parties have agreed to this suggestion and have asked George Cohen, former head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), to act as the mediator.

Mr. Cohen served as FMCS Director from 2009 until the end of 2013. The FMCS is an independent federal government agency that provides mediation services to resolve labor disputes that affect interstate commerce. While FMCS Director, Mr. Cohen personally mediated disputes involving Major League Soccer and the Major League Soccer Players Union, the Metropolitan Opera and its orchestra musicians represented by American Federation of Musicians Local 802, the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the American Red Cross and a national coalition of labor unions, and the NBA and the NBA Players Association.

As is customary in mediation, the mediation process will be conducted privately and only the results will be announced. The participants will include the Merger Committees for APA and USAPA, Merger Counsel for the Committees, and representatives from the Company. Mediation sessions will begin on August 5 in Washington, D.C. Any resulting agreement will be subject to approval as required by the governing documents of each party.

This is an opportunity for the parties to resolve any differences concerning the Protocol Agreement so that we can move on with an orderly process leading to an integrated seniority list. USAPA and our Merger Committee view this as a positive development that promises to provide the best opportunity for the parties to reach a Protocol Agreement that will protect the rights of all pilots in achieving a fair and equitable integrated seniority list.

We will keep you posted on further developments.

A lot of east guys live in current AA bases. Hopefully it can get done quickly. I hear RC5 will be in effect starting in Sept.

Pardon my stupidity, but what does RC5 have to do with this? Just asking...not flaming! Thanks!

Company is moving rapidly toward SOC at which point the 18 month countdown starts on the MTA. After that is up, it's anyone's guess what could happen. Transferring aircraft from the US to the AA side and furloughing is a possibility.

Or they could sell all the airplanes and go into potato farming. That's probably more likely than furloughs at this point.

Do you honestly believe this?

Directly from the union update yesterday: "The NMB asked the parties"

Then this today: NMB agrees with flight attendants that American Airlines and US Airways are ?single transportation system? | Dallas Morning News


I thinks it's more of a realization by USAPA, then a worry about SOC
18 month countdown, that they are not really making a case that is going to win over the courts and NMB. If they lose those battles, then they have no legs to stand on. Yes, finishing SOC would put more pressure on the situation, but that seems like protection the company afforded itself IF things went way south, and appeal after appeal racked up over the years. USAPA can TRY to come to an agreement with APA and move forward without all the ugliness with this mediation. I am probably wrong, but this "movement" is a positive thing and hopefully cooler heads are prevailing, but time.....and maybe the courts (hopefully not) will tell.

So completed SLI notwithstanding, any idea when (if ever) we new-hire third list types can bid freely east and west? There's people stuck on both sides who would rather have the other.

There is a no furlough clause in the MTA. It will be a part of the JCBA. It will also extend beyond the amendment date of the JCBA while in negotiations for a new contract that will come after the JCBA they are currently working on...

Read paragraph 11 of the MOU...

I thought the MOU had a no furlough clause