After the final step of the internal grievance procedure, the parties are given the option of going to a form of mediation rather than directly to arbitration. The mediator, an experienced arbitrator with mediatory skills, first seeks to assist the parties in reaching a mutually satisfactory settlement. At this stage the focus of the proceedings is on the underlying problem as well as the contract. The contract establishes parameters within which a settlement can be reached, leaving ample room for creative problemsolving and dispute resolution. If a settlement is not achieved, the mediator's next task is to provide the parties with an advisory opinion -- immediate, oral, and nonbinding -- as to how the grievance is likely to be decided if it goes to arbitration. The parties are free to arbitrate if they do not accept this opinion. Since November 1980 when an experiment was initiated with grievance mediation in the bituminous coal industry, more than 300 grievances in the coal industry and 25 in other industries have been mediated. Of the 325 cases, 275, or 85 percent, have been finally resolved without resort to arbitration. While mediation will never replace arbitration, it is capable of providing more satisfactory outcomes than arbitration and in a manner that has the long-range educational value of teaching settlement skills.