The NMB's 2004 Performance Plan is driven by and tracks its current, five-year Strategic Plan. The strategic plan contains outcome goals for the Agency's three missions: mediation, representation and arbitration. The strategic goals are highlighted and appear in the applicable mission-related areas of the performance plan. The performance plan, in turn, contains goals, targets, measures and strategies for achieving the strategic plan goals.

Table of Contents

Hot Linked

Mission Statement

The National Mediation Board (NMB), established by the 1934 amendments to the Railway Labor Act of 1926, is an independent agency that performs a central role in facilitating harmonious labor-management relations within two of the nation's key transportation modes--the railroads and airlines. Pursuant to the Railway Labor Act, NMB programs have provided an integrated dispute resolution process that effectively meets the statutory objective of minimizing work stoppages in the airline and railroad industries. The NMB's integrated processes specifically are designed to promote three statutory goals:

1. The prompt and orderly resolution of disputes arising out of the negotiation of new or revised collective bargaining agreements;
   
   
2. The effectuation of employee rights of self-organization where a representation dispute exists; and
   
   
3. The prompt and orderly resolution of disputes over the interpretation or application of existing agreements.

Resources Requested to Meet FY 2004 Performance Goals

The NMB's requested budget resources along with its allocated full-time equivalent positions will enable the agency to achieve the goals contained in the strategic plan and the annual performance plan. These resources will enable the NMB to meet its statutorily mandated obligations and to provide services to its airline and railroad labor-management and public customers. Seventy-five percent of the NMB's budget is attributed to FTE and contractual personnel costs. More than ninety percent of NMB staff have direct customer contact. The staff is dedicated to fulfilling the NMB's mission to provide the services described in the annual performance plan goals.

The FY 2004 annual performance goals are based on the assumption that the agency will experience level staffing and relatively stable case loads, consistent with the case load estimates included in the requested budget for FY 2004.

FY 2004 Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Performance Goals

I.   Promptly and efficiently docket, assign and process mediation cases.

A.   In all non-excepted cases,^* mediation applications will be responded to within 3 business days following their receipt by the NMB.

Baseline for FY 1997	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 88%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	99%
	FY 2000 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	98%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	100%

B.   In all non-excepted cases, a mediator will be assigned within 14 calendar days following docketing of all mediation cases.

Baseline for FY 1997	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 91%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	99%
Revised for FY 2003 (10 days)	FY 2000 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	100%

C.   In all non-excepted cases, the assigned Mediator will make an initial contact with the parties within seven calendar days following his or her assignment in all mediation cases. Initial contact is satisfied by speaking with both parties or leaving a voice mail message with both parties.

Baseline for FY 1997	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 65%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	90%
	FY 2000 Target achieved	94%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	98%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	94%

II.   Promote, manage and provide effective and efficient mediation services.

A.   In all non-excepted cases, the assigned Mediator will establish the date for the first mediation conference within 25 calendar days following the Mediator's assignment.

Baseline for FY 1997	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 17%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	93%
	FY 2000 Target achieved	98%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	99%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	93%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	81%

B.   In all non-excepted cases, mediator and the Board will endeavor to assist the parties in reaching an agreement within 45 days of mediation meetings or fewer.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 96%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	96%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	93%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	95%

C.   In all non-excepted cases, mediator and Board will endeavor to assist the parties in reaching an agreement within twelve months (365 days) of an application.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 58%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	58%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	80%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	67%

D.   Provide mediation services for 70 new railroad and airline mediation cases.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	63%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	48%

E.   Mediate to closure 70 railroad and airline mediation cases.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 93%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	93%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	84%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	36%

III.   Promote, manage and provide effective and efficient alternative dispute resolution services.

A.   Provide facilitation and training services in 50 new alternative dispute resolution cases.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 128%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	128%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	140%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	78%

B.   Bring 50 alternative dispute resolution cases to closure.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 154%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	154%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	146%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	74%

FY 2004 Representation Performance Goals

I.   Responses to representation applications will be issued promptly after their receipt at the NMB.

In all cases, a written response to a representation application will be sent within 3 business days.

Baseline for FY 1997	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 97%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	97%
	FY 2000 Target achieved	99%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	95%

II.   An NMB investigator will be assigned to a representation matter promptly.

In all cases, an NMB investigator will be assigned to investigate representation matters within 3 business days following the initial NMB response, unless the NMB declines to process the application.

Baseline for FY 1997 (5 days)	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	100%
Revised for FY 2001 (3 days)	FY 2000 Target achieved	100%
Target achieved 100%	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	100%

III.   In all cases, the NMB's determination of whether there is sufficient showing of interest to warrant further investigation will be made within 45 calendar days of docketing.

Baseline for FY 1998	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	100%
Revised for FY 2001 (all cases)	FY 2000 Target achieved	98%
Target achieved 100%	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	84%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	88%

IV.   In all cases, a certification or dismissal will be issued within 3 business days of the ballot count.

Revised for FY 2001 (3 days)	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 2000 Target achieved	100%
Revised for FY 2002	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
(next bus. day)	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
Target achieved 100%	FY 2003 Target achieved	90%

V.   Representation cases will be completed as expeditiously as practicable.

A.   All non-appellate representation cases will be completed within 90 calendar days of docketing.

Baseline for FY 1997	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 89%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	99%
	FY 2000 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	90%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	89%

B.   All Board decisions involving allegations of interference in appellate representation cases will issue within 270 calendar days of docketing.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 83%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	83%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	50%

Revised for FY 2003: 180 calendar days of filing of allegations)

(Note: An appellate representation case involving a decision on allegations of interference is resolved only through a Board decision. Only a minority of NMB representation cases are appellate. The majority of appellate cases involve the resolution of allegations of interference.)

VI.   Predocketing investigations will be completed promptly.

All predocketing investigations will be completed within 180 calendar days following the investigator's assignment to the case.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	62%

Revised for FY 2003 (120 calendar days)

VII.   Jurisdictional referrals from the NLRB will be resolved promptly.

A written jurisdictional opinion will be provided to the NLRB within 180 calendar days from the date the jurisdictional referral from NLRB headquarters is assigned to an investigator.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	75%

Revised for FY 2003 (120 calendar days)

VIII.   In all cases which require a Board level decision, the Board will endeavor to issue a decision within 35 days after receiving a staff recommendation.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 100%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	100%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	84%

FY 2004 Arbitration Performance Goals

I.   All arbitrators compensated by the NMB will be sent their payment within 3 business days following the NMB's receipt of an appropriate voucher.

Baseline for FY 1997 (10 days)	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 85%
	FY 1999 Target achieved	94%
Revised for FY 2002 (3 days)	FY 2000 Target achieved	92%
Target achieved 49%	FY 2001 Target achieved	89%
	FY 2002 Target achieved	49%
	FY 2003 Target achieved	70%

This was a revised standard in FY 02, and the Revised Baseline will be the performance level for FY 02.

II.   Monitor case loads and authorizations to encourage arbitrators to issue awards in all cases within 180 calendar days of hearing dates.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 71%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	71%
Revised for FY 2002	FY 2002 Target PLB/SBA	81%
Target achieved PLB/SBA 81%	FY 2002 Target NRAB	50%
Target achieved NRAB 50%	FY 2003 Target PLB/SBA	86%
	FY 2003 Target NRAB	78%

III.   At the National Railroad Adjustment Board, reduce the average length of time between the hearing of cases and decisions by 15 days.

Baseline for FY 2001	Current Strategic Plan
Target achieved 32%
	FY 2001 Target achieved	32%
Revised for FY 2002	FY 2002 Target achieved	46%
(Reduce average length	FY 2003 Target achieved	-13%
by 15 days)
Target achieved 46%

This was a new standard in FY 01. The Baseline number was 214 days. The target for FY 2003 is to reduce the average length of time between hearing and decision by 15 days.

Management Strategies

The NMB has six management strategies in its strategic and performance goals. These are vital to the NMB's management for results. The Board's strategic and performance goals set out what is to be accomplished. The management strategies set out how these goals are achieved. These strategies cut across all organizational boundaries within the agency and are key to performing the NMB's missions efficiently and to providing the customers with consistent and seamless services. Most importantly, these management strategies help the Board work better together, provide higher performance with the same organizational capacity and resources.

The following management strategies will be used to accomplish the Board's managerial success in FY 2003 and 2004.

Workforce Planning: The NMB will recruit, hire and train mediators, professional and support staff, as needed, to accomplish its strategic goals and initiatives.

Managing Diversity: The NMB will continue its efforts to build a talented workforce that reflects America and is unrestricted in its ability to pursue the NMB's goals. The Board will do so through hiring and innovative employee sharing programs. Additionally, the Board will establish an EEO committee and deliver programs to educate the work force on the interrelationship between diversity and teamwork. The NMB will also establish an internal ombudsman procedure.

Learning and Development: The NMB will ensure its employees' professional growth consistent with the needs of the agency and efficiency of its service. The NMB will do the following:

• Monitor mediators' participation in interest-based bargaining (IBB) and grievance mediation (GM) training programs, to insure that all mediators will have the knowledge of IBB vocabulary, concepts and problem solving techniques.
  
  
• Monitor and evaluate each mediators' problem solving and grievance mediation skills in order to expand IBB capacity and insure that each mediator can deliver basic problem solving, facilitation and grievance mediation services.
  
  
• Provide training in advanced mediation skills, facilitation skills and other appropriate areas of technical and substantive knowledge.
  
  
• Use team mediation and facilitation to enhance individual skill development in situations identified during weekly case assignment meetings.
  
  
• Review, revise and implement the development program for managers, mediators, professional staff, and support staff.
  
  
• Conduct regularly scheduled mediator meetings and conferences with presentations designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of the mediators and professional staff.
  
  
• Compile user input for recommendations of changes in the IBB and GM training modules.
  
  
• Review case scheduling and tracking activities to ensure integration of IBB into mediation case load.
  
  
• Evaluate effectiveness of computer assisted problem solving techniques. Pilot applications designed to support Board's ADR services. Integrate, where appropriate, computer assisted techniques into mediator corps skill base.

Strategic Planning: The NMB will do the following during FY 2003 and 2004:

• Explore the feasibility of expanding scope of the IBB program to other Government agencies within the airline and railroad industries.
  
  
• Develop a multi-year agenda of projects for the George Mason/Center for the Advanced Study of Law and Dispute Resolution Processes, including internship programs, course development for parties and mediators, research projects, and publications.
  
  
• Promote, provide and facilitate IBB in the airline and railroad industries.
  
  
• Assess legality, feasibility and desirability, through appropriate U.S. Government agencies, to create contacts with similar agencies in other countries, to develop an international conference on dispute resolution due to the globalization of both the airline and railroad industries.
  
  
• Implement a telephone voting ballot process and electronic FOIA requests.
  
  
• Develop and begin implementation of a comprehensive information archive and retrieval system.

Strategic Planning: The NMB will reorganize and redirect its information technology resources to better support mediation staff and enhance its overall customer service in FY 2003 and 2004:

• Continue to conduct users group meetings to develop in-house expertise in the agency's common software.
  
  
• Conduct ongoing evaluations of the system's performance, initiating improvements, upgrades and changes as necessary and provide biweekly status reports.
  
  
• Maintain current information regarding hardware and software advances.
  
  
• Reexamine NMB document and records management security and align with newly implemented records and file management procedures and NMB operations.

Productivity Enhancement: The IT staff will streamline the work process by:

• Develop and deliver training to staff on agency software.
  
  
• Conduct surveys to determine need for staff training on all agency software.

Securing IT Systems: The IT staff will ensure that the NMB's information systems remain secure by:

• Conduct vulnerability assessments on all current IT systems.
  
  
• Provide security awareness training to all NMB employees.

Strategic Planning: The NMB will do the following during FY 2003 and 2004:

• Promote labor-industry dialogues on issues of industry concern.
  
  
• Maintain user groups of carrier and labor officials who provide access to airline and railroad collective bargaining agreements.
  
  
• Continue to revise the NMB website to be more informational, interactive and user friendly.
  
  
• Rewrite the NMB Representation Manual.

Strategic Planning: The NMB will do the following during FY 2003 and 2004:

• Prepare, revise and implement the NMB budgets to ensure that funds are available for the Board's priorities and are allocated to effectively achieve the strategic goals of the agency.
  
  
• Prepare, revise and implement the NMB annual report, performance report and other GPRA related tasks to ensure alignment with the NMB strategic goals.
  
  
• Assess effectiveness of staffing structure in Financial and Administration Department, revise as necessary.

• Manage public information and press relations in keeping with NMB mission effectiveness.
  
  
• Conduct an NMB website and public information customer satisfaction survey.

Verification and Validation

The FY 2004 Annual Performance Plan is the product of management and program staff, developed in consultation with labor and management. In developing the plan, the agency evaluated workload trends and reviewed historical workload data. Discussions with other Federal agencies concerning goals, targets and measures impacted the final product. NMB annual performance goals are based on the assumption that the agency will have a relatively stable case intake and stable funding. The core goals and objectives of the performance plan are incorporated into the individual performance plans of the agency's work force.

The NMB measures its progress in meeting its performance goals through customer feedback, staff discussion, and the use of the agency's case management system. Feedback from labor, management and neutral parties is continuous and an integral part of managing the agency. Through weekly managers' meetings, department staff meetings, and full quarterly reviews, agency management identifies problems and makes adjustments in work processes or resource levels. The NMB develops work plans and establishes deadlines for all projects including those performed by contractors.

The NMB's information technology and software (Abacus, Crystal Reports) allows it to monitor, measure and report case activities within mediation, representation and arbitration program areas. This technology and software is part of the NMB's management audit system which measures whether agency programs meet annual performance plan and strategic plan targets.

The data generated by the information technology systems and customer input are used to assess program effectiveness and to foster program improvements. Customer input involves measures of customer satisfaction concerning current services and the identification of any additional services that may be necessary to serve the parties. Evaluation and feedback data from customers are used to determine the effectiveness of major programs.

* Upon recommendations of the Mediator and Senior Mediator, the Chief of Staff may except a case or cases from these standards.