That is a possibility. We will find out soon enough

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Correct me if I’m wrong but siding with one side would be the role of an arbitrator and not a mediator.

Obviously there will be a delay......but how much of delay will it be? I know you've mentioned the NMB and the process of assigning one is time consuming. But if I recall correctly you said the same thing last contract but the mediator was actually assigned very quickly. Do you really think it will take until after next summer to be assigned a mediator? I think it will be much sooner than that.

Denny

Yep that's what I said earlier but in my best animal house voice "don't stop him he's on a roll"

They have not put out a position to see on most of the important items. The union can and should publish managements positions on the items they have discussed. It’s highly unlikely management will release a position on those sections not discussed at the table outside of negotiations. In fact I have never heard of that happening.

We will see. Our positions were not far apart last time so the NMB probably saw a opportunity to get it done quickly. That is not the case today.

The sole purpose of the NMB and their mediators are to prevent interruptions to interstate commerce.

This is true. It's just that some people keep talking about how our asks were so unreasonable that the company had no choice but to throw up their hands and ask for a mediator.

I wanted to counter with the fact that what the NN said about the company's Section 23 proposal was completely ludicrous. Absolutely out to lunch.

But we're the unreasonable party...

Mediation is a required part of the process to progress to a TA or self help if we can't agree. We might as well get started now.

Exactly this!

Denny