I was really hoping I could tell you that great things have been accomplished last month, but I can't. Our meetings have been filled with cancellations, early end times, and long caucuses for discussion. I was surprised to hear the County already mention the word, "mediation." Frankly, we were a littled surprised. We've had proposals, counter-proposals, counter-counter proposals, etc. with little change in either direction.

We've asked for longer meeting times, but it's painfully obvious that no one is in a hurry to settle this contract. At our last meeting, 3/22, we didn't even set another meeting because of scheduling conflicts. Just yesterday,  our next meeting is finally scheduled for April 28th---over a full month since our last meeting. Hang in there folks. I don't expect a resolution anytime soon. On the brighter side, our attornies were shocked when we told them that we had never been to arbitration for a contract. We explained that we usually fold every time after a prolonged wait and finally get a better deal during mediation.