South Florida civic leaders placed full-page advertisements...

South Florida civic leaders placed full-page advertisements in two Miami newspapers calling for a truce in Eastern Airlines’ labor wars after executives of the carrier told them that the company’s finances were worsening. Eastern, the area’s largest private employer, has lost almost $1 billion in the past decade. Federal negotiators are helping mediate secret contract talks between Eastern and its machinists union, which has rejected the company’s call for deep pay and benefit cuts.