Eastern Machinists Strike; Airline Pledges to Operate

Union mechanics and baggage handlers struck Eastern Airlines at midnight Friday, refusing to accept the carrier’s demands for wage cuts and threatening to obstruct mass transit nationwide.

“We have a strike at Eastern Airlines,” said Wally Haber, head of the machinists union at the carrier just as the clock passed midnight. Haber said picket lines would be set up immediately.

National Mediation Board Chairman Walter C. Wallace said the talks between the two sides ended on a “professional if not cordial” note. The mediator said both sides were free to resume talks anytime.

The company’s proposed contract would reduce hourly top-scale mechanics’ wages by 15%--from $18.83 to $16--and baggage handlers’ by 26%--from $15.60 to $11.54.

The strike was called after Eastern made a last-ditch offer to the union that company officials said protected past wage increases and job security for 8,500 union aircraft mechanics and baggage handlers.

Earlier Friday, in an unpredecented action, President Bush rejected a recommendation from federal mediators to order an emergency 60-day cooling-off period.

Eastern vowed to keep operating a limited schedule with management pilots and substitute mechanics, which the airline hired and trained especially for the strike. In preparation for the strike, Eastern eliminated up to 75% of its weekend schedule.

A union official said the machinists were ready for “war.”

In a related action, the Airline Pilots Assn. announced that, in the event of an Eastern strike, next Tuesday its 40,000 members will begin to precisely follow flying procedures, causing “substantial” airport delays.

Bush warned organized labor that his Administration wouldn’t tolerate sympathy actions in support of the machinists, who were sent home for the day Friday by the airline to prevent what management called sabotage by militants.

The AFL-CIO has urged all members to honor picket lines, and the machinists have vowed to picket trains, ports and other airlines.

In Washington, U.S. District Judge John H. Pratt ruled that machinists at other airlines could not honor Eastern machinists’ picket lines in view of no-strike, no-slowdown clauses in their contracts with other carriers.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told a news conference that the Transportation Department “will monitor the situation and will, in addition, take whatever steps are needed to protect the safety of the traveling public.”

Eastern said it was cutting up to 75% of scheduled weekend flights, including most service from its Atlanta hub and about 60 other cities.

Service will be maintained to about 50 cities, including most flights from Miami and on the airline’s Northeast shuttle and Latin American routes, said Joseph Leonard, Eastern’s chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Eastern said it was prepared to operate during a strike and had contracted with 1,100 non-union mechanics to service its planes. Leonard said Eastern could fly indefinitely with 200 management pilots and those who cross picket lines if pilots honor a walkout.

Leonard told reporters in Miami that the paid day off for machinists wasn’t a lockout or an attempt to affect the bargaining. Eastern took the action after a federal judge said it was necessary to ensure passengers’ safety, he said.

Bush’s refusal to invoke an emergency mediation panel and impose a 60-day cooling-off period in the 17-month-old dispute marked his first major labor-crisis decision.

To Eastern’s machinists, it signaled a major dimming of hope. “The reaction here is we would just as soon get it over with,” said Rick Iacino, a machinists general chairman. “Our people are pumped up; they’re ready. War has been declared.”

The airline, which says it is losing $1 million a day, has been seeking $150 million in concessions from the machinists. Management made a new offer Thursday that leaders of the 8,500-member union--which includes mechanics, baggage handlers and other ground workers--said offered little improvement.

The AFL-CIO and 33 senators led by Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) wanted Bush to intervene to prevent “a major disruption of interstate commerce.”

Eastern flies about 100,000 people a day with an average of 1,040 daily flights. It has 250 airliners.

The 60-year-old, Miami-based carrier, owned by Texas Air Corp., wanted Bush to stay out of the dispute, claiming that it could not afford any delay.

Eastern’s pilots rejected an appeal Thursday by Texas Air Chairman Frank Lorenzo for them to sign a new contract and cross machinists’ picket lines.

Eastern flight attendants said they would honor picket lines, although Lorenzo--who in 1983 took Continental Airlines into bankruptcy reorganization to end a labor confrontation--has warned that the action could land Eastern “in the corporate graveyard.”

Airports nationwide strengthened security and made contingencies for dealing with the strike. Other airlines, some of which have refused to promise to honor Eastern tickets, reported surges in sales last week.

“We will do our best to assist Eastern passengers should there be a work stoppage,” said Delta Air Lines, which arranged to accept Eastern tickets.

Leonard said the company had experienced “significant amounts of vandalism” and got permission from U.S. District Judge C. Clyde Atkins in Miami to send workers home. Atkins said it was necessary for passengers’ safety.