Officials from Northwest and the Air Line Pilots Association met separately with mediators Saturday and Sunday at a suburban Chicago hotel but didn't have enough common ground to sit down together.
After taking Labor Day off, both sides planned to meet today. Whether they would talk in person rather than through federal mediators wasn't clear.
Meanwhile, North Dakota Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad planned a conference call with President Clinton late yesterday to discuss the 11-day-old walkout.
''We're going to tell him that we think it's urgent that the airline get up and operating again because it's causing very serious damage,'' Dorgan said. ''Perhaps binding arbitration is the way to go here.''
About 27,700 of Northwest's 50,000 employees have been put on temporary leave since the strike began Aug. 28.
The airline has canceled all flights through Thursday, all incoming flights from Europe and Asia through Saturday, and flights between Asian markets through Saturday.
More than 60,000 passengers have been affected in Japan, where Northwest is the second largest airline with outgoing flights and the biggest among foreign airlines, with around 200 flights per week.
09-08-98
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