“The mediator’s decision not to schedule any further mediated sessions has stirred questions from the floor.
Why didn’t the TWU ask for a release for self help at this time?
- Mediator Jack Kane and NMB Chief of Staff Larry Gibbons made it clear to both parties that the Board was not going to release the parties to engage in self help. They were explicit on this matter. To ask for that form of relief when you have been told by the NMB that it will not be granted just does not make any sense. This is not a matter of the two sides not being able to negotiate but a matter of the Mediation Board choosing to use their resources in other areas.
Another question from the floor was about the term Iced.
Are the TWU and American on Ice?
- In the text of the Railway Labor Act you will probably not find the term Iced. Iced is a layman’s term that is used to define that the NMB will not schedule any meetings. As a general rule, the NMB does not provide consistent mediation dates unless the NMB feels the parties are close to an agreement. But it does not mean that the two sides cannot continue in negotiations on their own.
The NMB’s decision not to participate in further bargaining at this time is in line with what occurred with the APA, and the pilots continue to meet with the Company without the assistance of the mediator.
Labor Quote
“We build roads for high tech companies. Offer tax breaks to big industries. Cut electric bills for employers. So what can be done for… towns where people live every day at the edge of a very violent margin? More than likely, government can do very little; and where it has tried, the failure rate has been phenomenal, because so many in power forget the basic rule that the best social program of all is spelled J-O-B. There is not a welfare check invented that allows a recipient to purchase dignity.”
Boston Globe