Associated Press
Northwest Airlines mechanics work on a DC-9
Monday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
In the background are Northwest Airlink feeder planes
run by Mesaba. The commuter carrier was sued
by the Department of Transportation to make
sure it resumes service.
Northwest, pilots
Bloomberg News
reach tentative dealST. PAUL, Minn. - Northwest Airlines Corp. and its pilots union reached a tentative agreement on a labor contract that would end a 13-day strike over pay and job security issues, President Clinton announced tonight.
In Hawaii, the strike has led to the layoff of more than 700 local Northwest employees and about 110 employees of Dobbs International Services. Inc., a flight catering business. Many Hawaii
jobs at stakeThere are 397 striking Northwest pilots based in Hawaii.
The fourth-largest airline and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents about 6,200 Northwest pilots, reached the agreement after the National Mediation Board stepped, assisted by Clinton adviser Bruce Lindsey.
"I think this strike is over," Clinton said in the announcement on the lawn of the White House, flanked by his wife Hillary and Department of Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.
The pilots union said its members will remain on strike until its top council considers the proposal Saturday. No details will be released until then, the pilots said.
For St. Paul-based Northwest, approval would end a string of days with $25 million in lost revenue and $15 million in expenses. It also would ease an intensifying dispute with the federal government over commuter service to 17 small communities.
The National Mediation Board last week called company and union negotiators first to Washington and later Chicago in an attempt to jump-start the negotiations. The talks continued in Minneapolis on Tuesday with mediators shuttling between the two sides and with oversight by Lindsey, the deputy White House counsel.
The pilots union told its members tonight that its top council will meet Saturday in Minneapolis "to consider for approval a proposed settlement crafted by pilot and management bargaining committees over the past 56 hours."
Keith Foster, president of the local Northwest Machinists union, said that both sides told him this afternoon that they were making progress. Some mechanics were told to begin preparing planes for service and some schedulers were to going to be recalled, Foster said, citing conversations with workers.
The settlement came as costs mounted for the airline, pilots and idled workers. Northwest today extended health insurance to almost 30,000 idled workers through October.
The strike also took its toll on several U.S. cities, including Detroit, Minneapolis and Memphis, Tennessee, where Northwest was the major carrier at the local airports. Northwest earlier today canceled its flights through Sunday in the U.S. and Canada and other international service through Monday. The airline normally has 1,700 daily flights.
The pilots were to receive their last paycheck for earlier work on Saturday, Northwest said. They wouldn't have begun receiving monthly union support of $1,300 until the 35th day of the strike.
Most of the company's other idled 27,677 full-time workers and 567 part-time employees were to receive their last paycheck this weekend too, Northwest spokeswoman Marta Laughlin said.
