What is the current status of the ABX contract? How long is it over due for new one? How are the negations going or is it in mediation?

It's been in mediation for several years. There is no end in sight. Management is try to take away work rules and offering nothing significant. ATSG just bought Omni to wipsaw yet another carrier. K4 is the place to go new cba and no wipsaw.

How long can mediation go on for before the mediator has to make a decision under the Railroad Labor Act? Does this mean the mediator will approve a strike if there is no agreement?

The Railroad Labor Act is a farce and should be replaced yesterday. Pilots should contact their congress member and demand action. It's almost 2019 and for pilot labor / employment mediation and collective bargaining to be held hostage by rules that are out of date and irrelevant by way of the RLA is beyond a joke.

There is no time limit.

No time limit and Federal Judges are perfectly content to let it drone on and on in favor of businesses. The RLA is a toothless dog. In most if not all disputes found in favor of the pilots....the company is simply told to stop doing that! Of course they go right back and do it again. There needs to be punitive damages or it will never change.

RLA. Passed in 1926. Amended twice in 1934 and 1936.
1926?? Out of date? Yes.
It would be very difficult to get Congress to do any action. Favors business(transportation) too much.
I do agree though, the rules need to be amended.
1926??

While I understand what you're saying, I think you've misidentified the purpose of the RLA. The RLA isn't in place to ensure that transportation workers get a fair contract in a reasonable amount of time.

The purpose of the RLA is to prevent disruptions in the nation's transportation systems. At that purpose, it is far from toothless. The RLA is quite effective at preventing strikes and lockouts. The protracted negotiation process is exactly what the RLA was intended to produce.

Your statement is true. The sad part is that airlines should have never been part of the act. If you had a business in 1925 that was on the Norfolk Southern rail line, using it as your primary shipping method, and the Norfolk Southern employees went on strike shutting down that line your business was also basically shut down. Trains run on tracks owned by the company and no other company can run trains on those rails. If the struck company decides to let another company run trains on their lines during a strike the striking employees can easily disrupt that rail line and stop the struck work from going.


Airlines are totally different. They don't own the sky. If Delta goes on strike tomorrow Atlanta doesn't lose all air service. Will Atlanta or the nations commerce be negatively impacted? Certainly. But if the strike goes on long enough other airlines will add service and in the long term there will be no change in the economy. Why should airline employees be treated any differently than say truckers. I would submit that a nationwide trucker strike would be more damaging to the national economy than an airline strike. How about health care. Many local hospitals are now owned by Nationwide companies like Humana or Adventist. Why don't they have a similar act?

The RLA is essentially indentured servitude for airline employees. (especially pilots, mechanics and flight attendants) Because of our seniority system it is virtually impossible for senior employees to consider changing employers. We are approaching the 100th anniversary of this law. It's time for it to go.

I don't think the hyperbole is helpful.

I used to think the same thing and that thinking kept me at ABX for over twelve years. I'm now on my sixth airline and have never done better. I should have left ABX long before the 2009 furlough that finally kicked me out.

Then contact your representatives. They are the only ones who can change it.