Pan Am, Mechanics Fail to Reach Accord in Talks

Negotiators for Pan American World Airways and striking mechanics met in face-to-face talks for five hours Sunday but failed to reach an agreement to end the 18-day-old strike.

“We’ve gotten through four days of negotiations,” said Meredith Buel, a spokesman for federal mediator George Brown. Buel said both sides have agreed to return to the bargaining table today.

Earlier in the day, Hank Williams, vice president of Transport Workers Union Local 504, described the pace of talks as “very slow. It really doesn’t look too good. It’s just that there are no major changes,” he said.

The union represents most of the 5,800 ground crew workers who went on strike Feb. 28. The workers’ contract expired Jan. 1.

Negotiators for Pan Am and the Independent Union of Flight Attendants, which has set an April 1 strike deadline, also are trying to reach a new contract for about 6,000 attendants, most of whom were honoring TWU picket lines.

Pan Am has been firing attendants who fail to report to work, but IUFA officials maintain that the firings are illegal.

Company officials refused comment on the TWU talks, saying they had agreed to a news blackout during the negotiations.