Eastern and its pilots resumed negotiations.

A spokesman for the Miami-based carrier said leaders of the Air Line Pilots Assn. and Eastern negotiators met in Washington with national mediators for the first time since talks broke off Jan. 27. Leaders of the union, representing 4,000 Eastern pilots, had set a Feb. 26 strike date, but last week the union offered to accept a three-year continuation of a current 20% pay cut and asked to resume negotiations. However, the troubled carrier also moved to retain a bankruptcy-law expert, and officials said they couldn’t rule out bankruptcy reorganization as a last resort.