United Airlines and the International Association of Machinists, representing United?s airplane mechanics, announced yesterday that they will resume negotiations in order to prevent a strike at the end of next week, and have asked the president not to intervene so that the pressure of a looming strike threat will give them an incentive to settle. With Congress set to begin a ten-day recess tonight, and the White House declining at this time to ask Congress to extend the no-strike cooling off period that will expire on February 20, a failure by UAL and the IAM to end the bargaining impasse would result in a week-long strike before the government would be able to intervene to end it. The IAM has made it clear that they are willing to make temporary concessions in order to keep United solvent, but not until they have negotiated a base contract that puts them on a level with the rest of the industry in terms of wages and pensions.
See FRANK SWOBODA and KEITH L. ALEXANDER, The Washington Post, February 13, 2002