The following post was sent to me this morning from a mechanic in SFO. He was reading it on GT's site. It is quite obvious that the poster knows nothing about the RLA. The fact is EITHER SIDE has the UNILATERAL RIGHT to invoke mediation. In fact during the road shows members were demanding that the Union demand mediation so we could get to a PEB. Now that, as the Union explained many times, the possibility of a PEB has been revealed to be non-existent in the near term and several years at best in the long term, this poster cries foul. Was it underhanded to explain the facts as they were on the road show? Was it underhanded to explain if this TA was rejected we would be years in negotiations given what the NMB said to the parties? At this point the NMB sending us back to the table outside the purview of mediation is as much a possibility as seeing Santa Claus in the flesh.
Here, I'll type it out, "has argued that the agency must proceed with mediation on a single contract basis involving only the UAL mechanics and related."
Of course the Teamsters deliberately ignore other possibilities, deliberately mind you, like the mediation board rejecting United's request and the mediator sending the company back to the bargaining table. Sending us back to the bargaining table is a legitimate possibility, yet the Teamsters don't even mention it. Instead they virtually support the company's request for mediation, going so far as to say "it MUST proceed" into mediation, but in a underhanded way, by saying that the issue is one contract group at this time and not amalgamation. Why is the union pushing for mediation in their statement? The union's response and letter to the mediator should say, "The company's request for mediation should be rejected at this time because they are asking for mediation on the amalgamation issue, and they haven't settled negotiations with the mechanics and related at UAL yet." That's what the Teamster's response SHOULD say, but what they actually said in fact supported the company's request for mediation. The mechanics and the company don't NEED mediation at this time. United's use of mediation is a stalling tactic. It's punitive. It's bargaining in bad faith and it is a slap in the face to the mechanics. In the old days mechanics would know how to respond to such a slap in the face.
