The National Mediation Board has a limited number of mediators and resources and they are assigning them where the parties are closer to an agreement and need help closing. This already happened with the A.A. Flight Attendants and A.A. Pilots. The Pilots and AA agreed to keep negotiating without the NMB and have made progress. The TWU M&R committee made progress last week with two more articles tentatively agreed to. However, there are still open items on compensation and retirement. The TWU intends to continue negotiating just as the Pilots have and American has agreed to do so. “I am disappointed in the mediator’s decision not to continue to schedule and mediate negotiations but am glad that we can continue to meet with the company to make progress toward gaining a fair contract for our members.” said Sam Cirri
John Hewitt, TWU 514 Chairman of Maintenance said, “I’m glad the mediator is out of the way so we can meet on our schedule more often than the mediator’s schedule. Hopefully this will speed up the process.”
John Carlise, TWU 514 Chairman of Plant Maintenance, said, “This is not an attempt to stop the TWU from getting a contract with AA I feel like we now have an opportunity to complete the process in future negotiations without mediation.