THE EASTERN BANKRUPTCY : Memories : Workers Mourn an Airline--and an Era--They Loved

Gosh, this was once a great place to work! Ed Bischoff was saying it, and Ed Bischoff would know. Twenty-two years with Eastern Airlines. The Wings of Man, they called it. And that’s just what it was.

“The company feeling was, you did the job right, you did it quick, you did it together,” the stock clerk said. “Camaraderie is what we had. Unshakeable thing, that camaraderie. I’ll miss that.”

Of course, the good old days are now good and gone. And Thursday was no time to get sentimental about them, not at union headquarters anyway. Workers still had picketing to do. They reached for signs and zipped up their jackets.

But for the older ones this was more than a fork in the road; this might be the end. Eastern--in its 60th year--actually had filed for bankruptcy. The Wings of Man were grounded, maybe for good.

Ed Bischoff is nearly 60 himself. There was a full head of hair under his cap when he started, and no stretch to his waist. “I see guys here I’ve been having coffee with for 20 years,” he said. “Now, who knows?”

Cyril Skinner, his old pal, grabbed Ed’s elbow. “Maybe we should declare bankruptcy, too,” he joked. “We ain’t got no money either.”

“We ain’t got money for lawyers, and lawyers is what it takes,” Ed said. “Lawyers, that’s for sure.”

They trolled for memories. Younger fellows don’t know that it used to be different. Sure, labor and mangement sometimes had arguments then, but both sides were in the aviation business. These days, it seems the guys at the top are more interested in juggling assets than flying passengers.

“Frank Lorenzo bought the company (in 1986) just so he could sell it off, piece by piece,” said Earl Davis, who cleans airplanes.

That is the union’s view: that Lorenzo, Eastern’s chairman, has been treating the airline like a derelict at a blood bank, converting its essence into cash.

Workers hate him. “He has no concern for people,” said Rene Devilliers, 59, crew leader at a machine shop, 21 years on the job. “When he shaves in the morning, he must close his eyes.”

To many old-timers, the signs were clear. Lorenzo had long been steering the company toward bankruptcy. A machinists’ strike merely hastened the inevitable.

“The past two years, you couldn’t do your job,” Devilliers said. “Parts were always out of stock. It was like there was a master plan to debilitate the airline until nothing was left.”

Jack Blakey, stock clerk, started at Eastern right out of high school, 36 years ago. He remembers when Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I flying ace, ran the company. “He was hardball, but he listened,” Blakey said.

There was tradition. This was a pioneer company, born in the days when men in leather helmets were trying to prove air travel reliable enough to carry the mail.

In the 1950s, Eastern cornered the market in the New York-Atlanta-Miami triangle, then sprawled in all directions to Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada. It became Miami’s largest corporate employer.

“This was known as the pilot’s airline,” said Dick Thompson, 23 years in the cockpit. “When I started here, Eastern had the great jet fleet. Delta was just a marginal carrier back then.”

Hard times came to stay under the leadership of Frank Borman, the former astronaut who took over Eastern in 1975. In the early 1980s, he had to struggle with an industry down-draft in the newly deregulated skies.

‘I Told You So’

Borman fought ferocious battles with labor while trying to cut costs, then sold Eastern to Lorenzo, who already had a reputation as a union buster.

“From then on, we were in the hands of a corporate raider, and there was nothing ahead but the selling of assets and then bankruptcy,” Thompson said. “We all knew that.”

On Thursday, “You just wait and see” became “I told you so.” That the bankruptcy petition was hastened--the airline would say caused--by a strike did not bother most workers.

“I know it looks like we’re keeping the house warm by burning the furniture, but it’s personal,” Devilliers said. “We can’t work for Lorenzo any more.”

That means Devilliers is giving up $18.83 an hour, at least under the old contract. “I’d rather work for half the money with somebody else,” he said.

But even lower-paying jobs will not be easy to find, especially for the older workers. Jack Blakey, 52, has already looked around. “They think I’m too old,” he said. “They don’t tell you that, but that’s what it is.”

Pilot Les Welsh, 56, said, “If there’s some way everyone gets their job back, I’ll go back and work hard as ever. Otherwise, I’d be forced to retire.

“At my age, I’d never get on with another line. I’ll just pick up my pension and fade into the sunset.”

Main story, Part I, Page 1.

MACHINISTS’ WAGES Top hourly wages at selected airlines

Airline Mechanics Ramp service workers Eastern 18.83 15.60 American 18.78 15.51 Continental* 16.00 Contracts for work United 20.05 16.57 Northwest* 20.05 16.53 Delta* 20.10 17.47 USAir 20.10 15.93

* Machinists are non-union

Source: Associated Press