Strike Talk Won’t Affect Checchi Bid for Northwest Air

Negotiators for Northwest Airlines pilots said Wednesday that a strike is possible by Labor Day, but Los Angeles investor Alfred A. Checchi said the strike threat won’t stop him from completing a takeover of the nation’s fourth-largest carrier.

Negotiators for the Air Line Pilots Assn. told leaders of Northwest pilots Tuesday night that a breakdown in contract talks “may be near.”

But they also said that agreement on a new contract could be reached “within a matter of hours” if NWA Inc. management would bargain in a reasonable and responsive manner.” NWA is the parent company of Northwest Airlines.

A spokesman for Northwest did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Northwest pilots Master Executive Council of ALPA stopped short Tuesday night of endorsing Checchi’s $4-billion plan to buy NWA.

“They stopped short of a complete endorsement of his buyout plan but judged his financial and business plans to be viable,” union spokesman Jim Halverson said Wednesday.

Earlier Tuesday, former Republic Airlines pilots now working for Northwest embraced Checchi’s $121-per-share takeover bid.

Halverson said the mediated contract talks resumed Wednesday afternoon. Remaining issues are job security, work rules and pay, he said.

Before a strike could occur, an impasse in contract talks would have to be decided by the National Mediation Board. If an impasse were declared, it would be followed by a 30-day cooling-off period, after which the pilots would be free to strike.

Checchi said Wednesday that his group intends to close the buyout deal despite the strike threat. He said he considered the actions by the Republic and the Northwest Master Executive Council on his buyout plan “very encouraging.”

He also said he didn’t know when the deal would be completed, but it was “pending very shortly.”

Last week, sources close to the transaction said Checchi expected to complete the deal before Aug. 1, the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch reported Saturday.

Checchi also said Wednesday that a contract settlement might be reached before the deal is closed.

“These pilots and the company have been involved in negotiations for almost two years and that process seems to be coming to a satisfactory conclusion,” he said. “It’s my understanding they’re very close and, sometimes when you get closest, it’s kind of a point of maximum frustration for both sides.”

Former Republic Airlines pilots who joined Northwest in the acquisition of Republic in 1986 have been without a contract for the past 2 1/2 years while the contract covering Northwest pilots expired three years ago.

Talks to bring the pilots under one pact began in April, 1987, and broke off last November, when 96% voted to authorize a strike.