Northwest’s Machinists May Make Bid for Airline

The takeover battle for Northwest Airlines intensified Friday as the machinists union said it was considering a bid for the airline.

In a letter to Steven G. Rothmeier, chairman and chief executive of NWA Inc., the airline’s parent, the union asked to be viewed “as a potentially interested acquirer.” The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers has the largest union at Northwest, representing 21,500 mechanics, baggage handlers and ticket agents.

The union said its plan calls for placing a large amount of stock in the hands of employees and a friendly “patient investor.” The machinists said that they have already started looking for a friendly investor through their New Jersey financial adviser, Brian M. Freeman. The union said its plan could be financed, in part, through lower labor costs.

NWA, based in Eagan, Minn., had no immediate comment on the proposal. Faced with a hostile $2.7-billion bid from Los Angeles oilman Marvin Davis, the company put itself up for sale several weeks ago, and has attracted several interested investors, including Los Angeles financier Alfred A. Checchi. Davis recently dropped his hostile bid to obtain confidential information from the company.

NWA’s shares rose slightly Friday, as professional stock speculators looked forward to a bidding war for the company. Its shares closed at $105.125, up 37.5 cents, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

It wasn’t clear how much support the machinists had among Northwest’s other labor unions. Though Northwest machinist president Guy K. Cook said in his letter to Rothmeier that his union and the pilots shared “fundamental long-term interests,” a pilots union spokesman said Friday that “while we recognize an employee buyout may at some point be a viable option, we are not looking at it at this point.”