    [United States Government Manual]
    [June 01, 2000]
    [Pages 478-480]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD

    Suite 250 East, 1301 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20572

    Phone, 202-692-5000. Internet, www.nmb.gov.
    Chairman                                          Ernest W. Dubester
    Members                                           Francis J. Duggan,
                                                              Magdalena G.
                                                              Jacobsen
    Chief of Staff                                    Stephen E. Crable
        Senior Mediators                              John Bavis, Larry
                                                              Gibbons
    General Counsel                                   Ronald M. Etters
        Senior Hearing Officers                       Mary Johnson, Benetta
                                                              Mansfield,
                                                              Sean Rogers
    Director of Public Affairs                        James E. Armshaw
        Senior Research Analyst                       Donald L. West
    Director of Arbitration Services                  Roland Watkins
    Chief Financial Officer/Administration Officer    June D.W. King

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    The National Mediation Board assists in maintaining a free flow of
    commerce in therailroadand airlineindustries by resolving labor-
    management disputes that could disrupt travel or imperil the economy.
    The Board also handles railroad and airline employee representation
    disputes and provides administrative and financial support in adjusting
    grievances in the railroad industry.

    The National Mediation Board was created on June 21, 1934, by an act
    amending the Railway Labor Act. (45 U.S.C. 151-158, 160-162, 1181-1188).
        The Board's major responsibilities include preventing interruptions
    to interstate commerce in the airline and railroad industries; ensuring
    the right of employees to freely determine whether they wish to be
    represented for collective bargaining purposes; ensuring the
    independence of labor and management for self-organization to carry out
    the purposes of the Railway Labor Act; and providing for the prompt and
    orderly settlement of disputes in collective bargaining and over the
    interpretation of existing collective bargaining agreements.
        Disputes arising out of grievances or interpretation or application
    of agreements concerning rates of pay,rules, or working conditions in
    the railroad industry are referable to the National Railroad Adjustment
    Board.This Board is divided into four divisions and consists of an equal
    number of representatives of the carriers and of national organizations
    of employees. In deadlocked cases the National Mediation Board is
    authorized to appoint a referee to sit with the members of the division
    for the purpose of making an award.
        In the airline industry no national airline adjustment board has
    been established for settlement of grievances. Over the years the
    employee organizations and air carriers with established bargaining
    relationships have agreed to grievance procedures with final
    jurisdiction resting with a system board of adjustment. The Board is
    frequently called upon to name a neutral referee to serve on a system
    board when the parties are deadlocked and cannot agree on such an
    appointment themselves.

    Activities

    Alternative Dispute Resolution  In addition to traditional mediation
    services, the Board provides alternative dispute resolution services.
    These services include premediation facilitation, training, and
    grievance mediation. The purpose of the program

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    is to assist the parties in learning and applying more constructive,
    less confrontational methods for resolving their disputes and to resolve
    more of their own disputes without outside intervention.
    Arbitration  The Board provides grievance and interest arbitration for
    collective bargaining disputes. Grievance arbitration involves
    interpreting or applying an existing collective bargaining agreement.
    Interest arbitration is the process to establish terms of a new or
    modified collective bargaining agreement through arbitration instead of
    negotiation. Arbitration decisions are final and binding.
    Mediation Disputes  The National Mediation Board is charged with
    mediating disputes between carriers and labor organizations relating to
    initial contract negotiations or subsequent changes in rates of pay,
    rules, and working conditions. When the parties fail to reach accord in
    direct bargaining, either party may request the Board's services or the
    Board may on its own motion invoke its services. Thereafter,
    negotiations continue until the Board determines that its efforts to
    mediate have been unsuccessful, at which time it seeks to induce the
    parties to submit the dispute to arbitration. If either party refuses to
    arbitrate, the Board issues a notice stating that the parties have
    failed to resolve their dispute through mediation. This notice commences
    a 30-day cooling-off period after which self-help is normally available
    to either or both parties.
    Employee Representation  If a dispute arises among a carrier's employees
    as to who is to be the representative of such employees, it is the
    Board's duty to investigate such dispute and to determine by secret-
    ballot election or other appropriate means whether or not and to whom a
    representation certification should be issued. In the course of making
    this determination, the Board must determine the craft or class in which
    the employees seeking representation properly belong.
    Presidential Emergency Boards  The Board has the duty of notifying the
    President when the parties have failed to reach agreement through the
    Board's mediation efforts and that the labor dispute, in the judgment of
    the Board, threatens substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a
    degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential
    transportation service. In these cases, the President may, at his
    discretion, appoint an Emergency Board to investigate and report to him
    on the dispute. Self-help is barred for 60 days after appointment of the
    emergency board.

    Sources of Information

    Electronic Access  Information pertaining to Board operations including
    weekly case activity reports, representation determinations, press
    releases, and a range of documents and forms is available on the
    Internet, at www.nmb.gov.
    Publications  The following documents are available for public
    distribution: Determinations of the National Mediation Board (26
    volumes); Interpretations Pursuant to Section 5, Second of the Act (2
    volumes); annual reports of the National Mediation Board including the
    report of the National Railroad Adjustment Board; The Railway Labor Act
    at Fifty; and The National Mediation Board at Fifty--Its Impact on
    Railroad and Airline Labor Disputes.
    Reading Room  Copies of collective-bargaining agreements between labor
    and management of various rail and air carriers are available for public
    inspection At the Board's headquarters in Washington, DC, by
    appointment, during office hours (1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday).

    For further information, contact the Chief of Staff, National Mediation
    Board, Suite 250 East, 1301 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20572. Phone,
    202-523-5920. Fax, 202-523-1494. Internet, www.nmb.gov.

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