flyinthrew

Cheezus. No kidding. Some people just can’t help but listen to themselves complain.

JamesBond

The Trash Panda says 'hi'.

Viper25

Self-aware dumb question: what exactly does a mediator do at the table? I understand big picture that they set dates and frequency of sessions, but what is the mediator actually supposed to be doing during the sessions? Thanks.

Gspeed

They facilitate a deal. Any deal. They don’t care if it’s above, below, or industry standard; their job is simply to help make a deal happen.

TED74

I think they are also responsible for the TPS coversheets.

sailingfun

They work to bring both sides together. They attempt to do that by bringing both sides within what they call the zone of reasonableness. That is determined by your standing amongst your peers. That is why short duration and on time contracts are important. They drag everyone up with you. That’s also why I cringe when I see posts complaining that another airline might leapfrog us. That’s exactly what you want! The hammer they carry is the ability to either release pilots to strike or allow management to impose a contract. Normally that is preceded by a PEB or presidential emergency board. The mediators recommendations carry a lot of weight with the PEB. It is possible although I don’t remember it ever happening in my career at any airline for Congress to impose a contract and deny the right to strike. A congressionally imposed contract would likely mirror the PEB recommendations.
The most important goal of the NMB is however to prevent a interruption to commerce. Everything else is secondary.

Breadcream

Same with travelnet.delta.com

Save these addresses as bookmarks to your home screen and autofill the passwords.

Gspeed

You got most of it correct except that management can lock us out or we can strike if released by the NMB.

The PEB isn’t necessarily a “hammer” against the labor group if the industry standard outpaces your current contract. In that situation it’s a hammer against management.

sailingfun

Correct, the zone of reasonableness works both ways. Costing data from 2019 for airline pilots does not show that it would favor us much.

interceptorpilo

A bold statement like that needs serious facts/links that show it is a correct statement. This is especially true when it comes from Sailingfun.