Clinton Rebuffs Call to Halt Northwest Strike

President Clinton rebuffed requests from governors and congressmen to halt the six-day strike by Northwest Airlines pilots. “He feels the best way to approach this is to keep the pressure on the parties to reach a settlement, and that is what we intend to do,” White House spokesman Barry Toiv said. Citing economic damage to the Midwest, Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson and other elected officials had called on the president to invoke his authority to order a 60-day cooling-off period during which the strikers would have to go back to work. The two sides have agreed to meet with a mediator in Chicago on Saturday to discuss whether enough flexibility exists in the two sides’ positions to warrant further talks. Meanwhile, two feeder airlines that had shut down because of the strike by St. Paul, Minn.-based Northwest were ordered by the Transportation Department to come up with a plan to return to the air.