Proposed path to resolution
The Steering Committee was invited to Chicago yesterday to hear a proposed path to expedite negotiations. The Company stated that they would like to reach a Joint Agreement by the end of this year and they offered a new method recently developed by the National Mediation Board to facilitate this process. The method developed by the NMB was a result of the Dunlop II report issued in April of 2010 and is based on the principals of interest based bargaining or IBB. IBB is generally seen as a quicker process than traditional or adversarial bargaining because rather than disputing particular words in any given Article, the parties first come to an agreement on how the Article should work in a practical application and then once agreement is reached on an issue, language is crafted to address the parties agreement.
Moving Forward
After the rank and file committee discussed the proposed schedule it was unanimously agreed that this approach would be acceptable to the Union. The company was notified of the decision and now the parties will jointly approach the NMB to begin the process. The first item that will need addressed is the protocol agreement. This agreement will establish a timeline as well as consequences in the event the parties are not able to reach an agreement by the agreed upon final date. The next step would be to get the negotiating committee to training for IBB which will be presented by the NMB. Once those steps are completed; which will happen quickly, bargaining in earnest will begin.
Questions about the process
Q. By agreeing to this process are we in traditional mediated talks?
A. No. This process is facilitated by the NMB but this is not mediation in the traditional sense. In other words, there will be no deadlock at the end and the Negotiating Committee could simply revert to traditional bargaining if an agreement is not reached.
Q. Won’t this potentially add to the length of time needed to reach an agreement if the process fails?
A. Possibly, but considering the average length of time from filing for mediation to getting a release by the NMB is now 22 months the Steering Committee felt it would be in the membership’s best interest try to reach an agreement quickly and saw the risks as minimal
Q. Does the membership concede any bargaining rights by using this process?
A. No. If this process is unsuccessful the parties begin traditional Section 6 bargaining under the RLA with full rights to the regular process.
Look for future updates that will discuss the protocol agreement, IBB training and progress made in the near future.
