Eastern’s flight attendants refused to count votes.

Robert Callahan, president of Transport Workers Union Local 553, refused to begin counting ratification votes on a new contract, charging that Eastern Airlines changed the contract wording controlling the $11 million in back pay that flight attendants were to receive in settlement of a lawsuit against the company. He also said the company changed the wording on working conditions. Eastern countered that union leaders were trying to rewrite a contract that they’d already signed.