We wanted compulsory mediation. We wanted to force the parties into a room to talk about the issues, clarify what the issues are, understand, because sometimes with the FOA, after you've put your offer on the table, that's it, you can't change it and you're stuck with that. And if you've done that without having had the benefit of having a frank discussion with your customer, or with the customer having a frank discussion with you to see what are the limitations around what that customer is asking.... I have found mediation to be extremely useful in understanding the other side and educating each other about their concerns and our concerns.
As I said, and maybe I should touch wood, in all the mediations that I've been involved in we ended up with a good resolution and both parties left happy. But in FOA there's only one winner; the winner takes all, and to us, it's not conducive to the proper resolution of the disputes as they've been framed.