Borman Blasts Bryan : Union Leader Sick, Ex-Chief of Eastern Says

Turning up the heat in what has already been a highly personal union-management clash, former Eastern Airlines President Frank Borman on Sunday called the striking machinists union leader Charles E. Bryan a “sick man” who “suffers from delusions and paranoia.”

The machinists, joined by Eastern pilots, have focused their anger in the weeklong strike on Frank Lorenzo, chairman of Eastern’s parent Texas Air Corp. Union leaders have denounced him as a “ruthless corporate raider” and a union buster. Picketing workers have carried signs saying “Down With Frank” and chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Lorenzo’s got to go.”

Borman returned the fire Sunday. In 1986, Borman lost control of Eastern, but still sits on the Texas Air board. Appearing on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” Borman maintained at first that the current strike was not being fueled by a personal animosity between Lorenzo and Bryan.

Sees Union Policy

He then added: “There is clearly a definitive union policy to set up Frank Lorenzo as the villain, and then characterize the problems as a personal problem with Frank Lorenzo.”

But when Bryan took charge of the International Assn. of Machinists at Eastern in 1980, he “referred to me as ‘Martin Ludwig Borman and his Gestapo Nazi terrorists.’ We’ve got a sick person running the I.A.M.,” Borman said.

When asked by ABC’s Sam Donaldson to explain what kind of sickness Bryan suffers, Borman said: “I think he suffers from delusions and paranoia, personally. His boss told me he hears voices.”

Capt. Henry A. Duffy, president of the Air Line Pilots Assn., countered that the main problem was the “management style” of Lorenzo.

Cites Management Style

“We have pilots (at Eastern) that are told they can’t go on sick leave, that are disciplined for turning down airplanes for safety reasons,” Duffy said. “This management style is unique to Frank Lorenzo and Texas Air Corp. It’s the reason the pilots are out there very solidly on the (picket) line.”

Meanwhile, Eastern began operating some additional flights Sunday, three days after filing for protection from creditors under the bankruptcy laws. The airline claimed the addition of service on seven Latin American routes from Miami was the beginning of “a new, smaller, restructured and viable Eastern Airlines.”

However, the Air Line Pilots Assn. said it doubted the airline had enough experienced pilots to keep the routes working. Eastern estimated Sunday that out of 3,600 regular pilots it had 200 flying.