P.M. BRIEFING : Pilots of Other Airlines Plan Wildcat Strike to Back Eastern Colleagues

Pilots from major competitors are volunteering to stage a wildcat work stoppage Sept. 4 to support Eastern Airlines strikers, a union official said today. Sept. 4 is Labor Day, a heavy travel day.

“It’s called ‘Shut Down America,’ ” said Hank Weber, a spokesman for the Eastern local of the Air Line Pilots Assn. “It’s one of those things. We’ve never had anything from the grass roots like this before. All we can do is watch and see what happens.”

Weber said the union isn’t organizing the effort and has no details but has been flooded with messages of support. He showed messages from pilots for such airlines as United, Northwest, TWA and Aloha.

One message called for “S.O.S.--Suspension of Service; Sick-Out in September. . . . Are you sick of what’s happening to our Eastern brothers?”