Last Friday, the Association of Flight Attendants(AFA) appealed the decision that blocked their threatened strike. The Judge said that the union had not exhausted all options for coming to an agreement with the airline.
Reuters reported today that the AFA has asked to be released from formal mediation. If the National Mediation Board ceases to mediate the situation, it would be sent to arbitration, and if arbitration is rejected by either side, it would have the legal right to strike after a 30-day cooling off period. Contract negotiations, the union says, are at an impasse because the airline imposed a new contract on the employees after voiding the existing collective bargaining agreement.
The Railway Labor Act requires airline employees to be released from mediation before a strike is legal. The union had claimed that the imposing of terms by Northwest effectively ended negotiations and thus the provisions of the RLA in this case did not apply.