Eastern Air Lines’ Plan for Cutbacks Blocked

A federal judge today blocked plans by Eastern Air Lines to end operations to 14 cities and eliminate 4,000 jobs, giving a victory to Eastern’s unions.

U.S. District Judge Barrington Parker granted a preliminary injunction sought by the Air Line Pilots Assn. and two other unions to prevent Miami-based Eastern from making the cutbacks, scheduled to go into effect Aug. 31. The judge’s action follows his decision Aug. 3 to grant a temporary restraining order that blocked the cutbacks.

“We are extremely pleased,” said James Linsey, who represents the ALPA in the case. “It means the preservation of work and work opportunities for Eastern employees.”

A spokeswoman for the Miami-based Eastern, Karen Ceremsak, said the company believes the unions “are not entitled to relief of any sort and we expect we will be filing an appeal at the appropriate time.”

The ALPA, the International Assn. of Machinists and the Transport Workers Union, which represents flight attendants in the action, contend that Eastern’s moves to curb operations violate a federal law that forbids an airline from launching major changes in wages, hours or working conditions during contract talks.

In late July, Eastern announced plans to cut flight operations by 12%.