[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 17 (Tuesday, February 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AMERICAN AIRLINES STRIKE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I am going to submit a resolution this 
afternoon and ask it be considered. It has not yet been cleared. I hope 
it will be cleared so we will be able to vote on this resolution on 
Thursday if we do not have a settlement of the American Airlines 
strike.
  Mr. President, I am submitting this resolution on behalf of myself, 
and Senator Gramm. Perhaps others will want to come forward as well.
  But, Mr. President, we have a very serious economic crisis pending 
Friday about midnight. If we do not have some agreement by the two 
parties, American Airlines and its pilots union, we could hold up about 
one-fourth of the traveling public at the beginning of a holiday 
weekend. We could cause 75,000 other employees of American Airlines all 
over our country to be laid off without pay. We are causing, if that 
happens, other employees of rental car companies--people who sell food 
to airports and to airlines--all of these people who have livelihoods, 
who have families, to possibly be totally deprived of their ability----
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, we are talking about the livelihoods 
of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and we are talking about even 
international travel and commerce and goods that are going into 
international commerce.
  Mr. President, the effects of this strike are going to be so far 
reaching that it will have an economic impact on this country that will 
be quite severe.
  The pilots union is meeting with the company as we speak. The 
deadline before a strike is midnight this Friday. We have the 
opportunity with the resolution that I am introducing to have a sense 
of the Senate that the President would use all of his persuasive powers 
to get these parties to sit down, and that the President would be able 
to use his powers to appoint an emergency board which would 
automatically keep the contract in place for 30 days and then provide 
for another 30-day cooling-off period. This will give 60 days to these 
people to be able to work out their differences.
  I think that the pilots union and the airline company, American 
Airlines, are certainly big enough people to be able to work out their 
differences and not cause the disruption of so many lives in our 
country and the economies of so many States in our country.
  So I am asking that the Senate vote on this on Thursday, if nothing 
has happened in between. I hope the President will use all of his 
persuasive powers between now and Thursday to make sure that everything 
is being done to settle this strike. But if nothing has happened by 
Thursday, we want the President to use the powers that Congress has 
given him to call an emergency board together to give a 60-day cooling-
off period so that the negotiations can continue.
  This is something that Congress and the President have worked out in 
the past. This is the process, Mr. President. Let us step up to the 
line, and we hopefully will be able to work with the President to make 
sure that he has all of the tools necessary to do what is necessary to 
save this country from a real economic hit that could come within the 
next 3 or 4 days.
  We can do something about it. The President can do something about 
it. And we are going to ask him to do that in this resolution.
  As I said, I am going to submit this later. I am going to ask for 
unanimous consent to be able to vote on this on Thursday. I hope it is 
a moot point by that time. It is very important that the President 
address right away this impending crisis that can affect the lives of 
so many people and the families of so many people in this country and 
the economies of so many States in this country. The ripple effect is 
devastating. We can do something about it.
  I hope that the President will use the powers that he has for that 
very purpose.
  Thank you, Mr. President, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank the Chair.

                          ____________________