Eastern Airlines said it has made new...

Eastern Airlines said it has made new conciliatory offers to its Machinists and pilots union, although the financially pressed carrier is still trying to slash overall labor costs. Thomas Matthews, Eastern’s vice president for human resources, said this week “we put our best compromise on the table to get an agreement.” He noted that last week, Eastern and its unions made agreements on handling safety issues and worker complaints. Machinists local President Charles E. Bryan said details of the negotiations are supposed to be secret, but agreed that progress was being made.