    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [February 14, 1997]
    [Pages 159-160]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the Establishment of an Emergency Board in the Dispute
    Between American Airlines and the Allied Pilots Association
    February 14, 1997

        As you know, I have been closely following the labor negotiations
    between American Airlines and its pilots represented by the Allied
    Pilots Association. I want to compliment the parties, the National
    Mediation Board, its chairman Kenneth Hipp, and mediator Harry Bickford
    for their hard work to date. Progress has been made over the last
    several days and especially in the last few hours. Despite these good-
    faith efforts, however, the parties have been unable to reach a
    tentative agreement by the 12:01 a.m. strike deadline.
        To facilitate an agreement, and because I believe that a strike
    would have an immediate and adverse impact on the traveling public, I am
    creating a Presidential emergency board to work with the parties and to
    make recommendations regarding a resolution. No strike will occur while
    the Presidential emergency board is in place.
        A strike would cause a severe disruption to both domestic and
    international air transportation. American Airlines is the Nation's
    second largest airline; it carries over 220,000 passengers every day. It
    would be extremely difficult for other carriers to fill the void. The
    Department of Transportation has estimated that approximately 43,000
    passengers per day would not be accommodated by other airlines. The
    disruption would be particularly felt in Dallas, Miami, Chicago, New
    York, and Puerto Rico where American provides a large percentage of
    existing flights. It would also affect the nations of the Caribbean,
    many of whom rely heavily on American Airlines for air service to and
    from their shores.
        In the event of a strike, most of the 90,000 American and American
    Eagle employees would be placed on leave. The majority of these
    employees are based in Texas, Illinois, New York, California, Florida,
    and Oklahoma. Many of the elected officials from the States led by
    Senators Graham and Hutchison and Representative Martin Frost and
    Governor Chiles have made clear to my administration that a strike would
    severely affect their economies.

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        American transports almost 10 percent of the Nation's air cargo. A
    strike could increase and cause delays for shippers and the U.S. Postal
    Service.
        I was also particularly concerned that a strike would be especially
    disruptive over a holiday weekend, when hundreds of thousands of
    citizens rely on our air transit system.
        This dispute needs to be resolved as soon as possible. I urge the
    parties to continue to use the National Mediation Board and the
    Presidential emergency board to redouble their efforts to reach an
    agreement. They owe that to each other and to the traveling public.

    Note: The Executive order of February 15 establishing the emergency
    board is listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.