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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release March 20, 1997

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am pleased by the announcement yesterday that the negotiating teams for American Airlines and the Allied Pilots Association have reached a tentative agreement on their longstanding labor dispute. This tentative agreement will be presented on Friday to the APA Board of Directors for approval and subsequent ratification by the union membership.

I want to commend the management of American Airlines and the leadership of the Allied Pilots Association for their commitment to each other and to the traveling public. I think it speaks well of the parties and their intentions that this tentative agreement was reached more than five weeks before the April 28 "cooling off" deadline. When labor and management work together, as they did here, U.S. industries are better able to maintain their prominent positions in the global marketplace.

I also want to thank Presidential Emergency Board Chairman Robert Harris and the other members of the panel, Helen Witt and Anthony Sinicropi, for their dedication and hard work. This settlement would not have been possible without their leadership and oversight.

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