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Gentlemen:

I mean no offense by saying I hope that your suggestion of a "fix" turns out to be incorrect. In fact, I share your concern that the WSC would conspire to keep dissenting opinions out of the critical mediation session that resulted in the tentative agreement.

Speaking from only my experience, though, it is not unusual for governing bodies to assign a small number of representatives to attend contract negotiations before the full board votes on the proposal. The presumption is that the smaller delegation would know the committee's intentions and voice those within the negotiating meetings.

And specific to this case, I'd suggest that maybe the WSC didn't want to immediately vote on the proposal without seeing what the WTU does with it -- they approved a contract in July, remember, and you know how that turned out: The union rejected it. So, maybe getting their collective hands burned on the proverbial stove taught the WSC a lesson.

All of that said, I am curious like you-all to see how the mediated agreement and arbitrator's ruling compare and contrast with each other.