United Airlines and its mechanics union are being called back before federal mediators next week as the government tries to keep their contract deadlock from erupting into a strike.
The National Mediation Board has summoned the two sides’ negotiating teams to Washington for meetings on Feb. 15-16, board spokesman Jim Armshaw said Tuesday, confirming a posting on the union’s Web site.
He declined to say whether the sessions will be separate or if the two sides will resume face-to-face talks for the first time in two months.
Mediator Stephen Crable brought the two sides together two weeks ago in San Francisco but sent them home without scheduling direct talks after evidently concluding they were too far apart.
While United, the world’s largest carrier, would not comment Tuesday on the latest plan, there is no outward evidence the sides are budging from their stalemated positions.
Joe Tiberi, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists unit representing 15,000 United mechanics, said there had been no communication between the two sides.
The mechanics, whose contract came up for renewal last July, have appealed to the mediation board to declare an impasse in the negotiations. That would give them the right to strike after a month–a threat they say would force United to negotiate more seriously on demands for industry-leading pay raises, which the airline gave pilots last August.
The mediation board has been loath to start the 30-day clock ticking toward a possible strike, particularly with similar labor standoffs existing at the nation’s next three biggest airlines. Delta’s pilots, Northwest’s mechanics and American’s flight attendants also are seeking to be released from mediated talks in order to have the right to strike.
The government is determined to avoid a repeat of what happened in 1966, when United and four other major carriers were on strike at the same time, effectively shutting down commercial air travel in the United States.
President Bush said Tuesday he would “explore all options” for responding to the threat of strikes at the nation’s four largest airlines, which he said could hurt the economy. “The president’s got some opportunities–if they aren’t able to do so, some opportunities available–and I’ll explore all options,” Bush said.
Earlier, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters the White House was monitoring negotiations between the airlines and their unions, but it was too early for the government to get involved in negotiations.
