This is what the IAM's "Top Attorney" said, regarding cooling offs, at United. Did he lie to United or is the IAM jerking off US AIRWAYS members
CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO RATIFY A Contract:
If the members do not ratify the Tentative Agreement (TA), there is little if any likelihood that the Union would ever be able to exercise a right to strike, and a substantial possibility that Congress would eventually intervene and impose an agreement on United and the Union similar to the Tentative Agreement. The reality is, given the current concentration of passenger airline service- the consequence of mega-mergers, acquisitions and liquidations-- there is virtually no chance that the government will permit a Union to strike any carrier with as extensive a national transportation network as the one operated by United Airlines. United holds more than 20 percent of the entire domestic scheduled airline market. And the fact is, the government DOES have the ultimate authority to prevent a strike by the lAM.
If the members reject this TA, the parties will be thrown back into mediation. (see the attached flow chart showing the steps available in the RLA bargaining process). The National Mediation Board, for its part, will assume control over the process and determine the pace of continued negotiations and the point of final impasse or "release" from mediation. It can take indefinite time for the NMB to offer a release from the mediation process-- it could take months or years. Even when or if the parties are released, the NMB will then offer final and binding arbitration as a means to resolve the contract dispute. But arbitration is voluntary and the likely reaction by at least one party will be to reject that voluntary proffer.
Even if the NMB does eventually release the parties, self-help (strike or lock-out) would not likely follow. Under the Railway Labor Act, if a dispute "substantially threatens essential transportation" in any section of the country, the NMB must notify the President who may establish a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). That is very likely to happen, as it did in 2002 with the United mechanics, given the importance of the United franchise to the nation's passenger transportation system. The establishment of a PEB means the non-strike status quo remains in place while the PEB deliberates; United and the lAM will present their arguments as to what the terms of the CBA should be. Once the PEB makes recommendations on a new CBA, the parties can accept or reject them, and in theory under the terms of the RLA, if one party rejects the recommendations, there is an additional 30-day "cooling off" period after which the parties can resort to self-help. As a practical matter, however, the decision to accept or reject the recommendations of the PEB would not be substantially different than accepting or rejecting the original TA. The negotiating history, including the terms of the TA, are admissible as evidence before the PEB and, based on all prior experience, likely to form the foundation of the Board's recommendations.
The following is an analysis from Ira L. Gottleib, IAM District Lodge 141’s legal counsel and one of the country’s leading experts on the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Ira discusses in detail the likely outcome if the recently announced tentative contract is rejected by the membership. Please review Ira’s resume on the second page and the RLA bargaining flowchart on the last page.
Here is where the government's ultimate power to control labor relations in the transportation industry is likely to kick in. The Railway Labor Act, and Congress' general power to regulate interstate commerce, authorizes it to impose a resolution on the parties (note the box at the lower right of the flow chart). It has done so repeatedly in the railroad industry, and with the economy already on shaky ground, and Congress as a whole not favorable to labor and desirous of maintaining a fully- functioning airline industry, it can be expected to essentially legislate a CBA similar to what the PEB recommends, rather than allow a strike to occur. Based on railroad experience, the recommendations of the PEB would likely be Congressionally imposed by law. And the United States Supreme Court has upheld Congress' power to impose a non-negotiated solution to avoid disruption to interstate commerce. In short, because of the size of the company and its national scope of operations, it is most likely that Congress would not permit a strike, and may first threaten the parties with the imposition of a CBA, effective months or years after the current anticipated effective date of the TA. Thus, rejection of this TA is not likely to generate greater pressure on the Company to further improve its terms, since there is realistically no prospect of a strike.
Ira L. Gottlieb Bush Gottlieb Singer Lopez Kohanski Adelstein & Dickinson 500 North Central Avenue, Suite 800, Glendale, CA 91203
