Fed officials speak with Northwest, pilots

White House spokesperson Barry Toiv said deputy counsel Bruce Lindsey and Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater would meet first with the federal mediator who has been working with the two sides.

Lindsey, known as "the enforcer" on Capitol Hill, and Slater will remain in Minnesota "as long as they can be useful there. They are primarily there to assess the situation," Toiv said.

Operating as White House deputy counsel, Lindsey has been thrown into some of the administration's toughest battles. He was Clinton's representative in negotiations for a national tobacco deal and for settlement of strikes by baseball players and American Airlines pilots. Clinton halted the American strike just minutes after it began last year.

As the federal mediator prepared to meet with Lindsey and Slater, Northwest said it issued temporary layoff notices yesterday to 567 part-time reservation agents, boosting to about 28,300 the number of non-striking employees who have been laid off since the strike began.

"We continue to evaluate our staffing levels in light of the pilots' union strike," said Dwayne Tucker, Northwest vice president-human resources.

Yesterday was the third day of talks aimed at resumption of negotiations. Northwest and the pilots met separately with a mediator Saturday and Sunday in Chicago.

Security was tight at the suburban hotel used as a meeting site. A blue screen and a large plant blocked the hallway leading to the area where talks were being held.

In its 11th day, the strike by Northwest's 6,100 pilots is the longest airline strike since 1989, when President Bush refused to step into a machinists' strike that led to the collapse of Eastern Airlines. The dispute centers on pay and job security.

Clinton is under pressure from some politicians and business leaders to order Northwest pilots back to work for 60 days while a Presidential Emergency Board looks at solutions to the dispute.

However, pilots could resume their strike at the end of the 60-day period and only Congress then could order them back to work.

Clinton has said he hopes the parties can reach agreement without intervention.

Congress has so far stayed out of the strike.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) have threatened to filibuster a non-binding Senate resolution that urges Clinton to intervene in the strike. "Despite the difficulties that the strike may be posing for those in the Midwest and elsewhere, the fact is it's important to let the negotiating process continue," Kennedy spokesperson Jim Manley said yesterday.

Majority Leader Trent Lott, a co-sponsor of the measure, has yet to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Northwest has canceled all flights through Friday. All flights originating in Europe and Asia were canceled through Sunday.

Meanwhile, two feeder carriers that discontinued Northwest Airlink service when the strike began were under Transportation Department orders to reinstate service yesterday to 17 towns that have no other scheduled air service. Northwest was ordered to provide the necessary ground support for Mesaba Airlines and Express Airlines I.

Northwest issued a statement yesterday saying it would do everything it could, "within the constraints of our current pilot strike," to provide the ground support but could not guarantee how long the support would remain available.

09-09-98