Panel to Begin Mediating American-Pilots Dispute

The special board appointed by President Clinton to mediate the pilots dispute at American Airlines is set to begin meeting today.

Three arbitrators are to hear the dispute and devise a way to resolve the pay and job security disagreements that led to a pilots strike Feb. 15. The strike was only minutes old when Clinton intervened by establishing the emergency board and sending the pilots back to work.

The board, which meets in Washington, is to report its recommendations March 17. If either American’s parent company, AMR Corp., or the Allied Pilots Assn. disagree with the recommendations, then they must wait 30 days before acting. At that time, the pilots could strike or Congress could legislate a contract.

The three members of the Presidential Emergency Board are Robert R. Harris, a former chairman of the National Mediation Board; Helen M. Witt, one-time chairman of the National Mediation Board who also handled negotiations in 1985 between TWA and its flight attendants; and Anthony V. Sinicropi, an arbitration specialist and professor emeritus at the University of Iowa.