Eastern Pilot Union Ousts Leader on Eve of New Negotiations

Eastern’s pilots union said today it has ousted its leader, a month after he suggested ending their strike and on the eve of new talks with management.

Eastern pilots Chairman Jack Bavis was removed in a vote by 17 members of the union’s executive council, according to a taped telephone message on the pilots’ information line late Thursday. The union council members reflected recent rank-and-file sentiment against Bavis.

“It is necessary to take steps at times that are difficult,” Raymond (Buzz) Wright, interim union chairman, told the pilots. “They are in the best interests of the pilots.”

With the strike in its seventh month, the pilots are “looking for a leader who reflects the strength, resolve and tenacity of the rank and file,” union spokesman Hank Weber said today. “Our leadership is now reflecting the desires of the rank and file.”

Bavis, an Eastern pilot since 1966 and official for years with the Air Line Pilots Assn., became the Eastern pilots union leader in 1986.

Weber said that Bavis conceivably could be returned to the leadership and that a vote will be taken at a future meeting to select a permanent chairman.

Negotiations Scheduled

Earlier, union and management officials said they have scheduled negotiations for Monday, their first talks in six weeks.

The pilots requested the talks before the National Mediation Board in June, and the airline made a similar request in July.

Jack Mogus of the Eastern pilots’ executive council said that the talks in Washington, D.C., will probably end in an impasse and that Eastern will ask the National Mediation Board to call for a 30-day cooling-off period, after which Eastern could impose its own conditions on pilots who have crossed the picket lines.

But Eastern spokesman Robin Matell said Thursday: “We look at this as an opportunity to resolve our differences with the pilots’ union.”

Hundreds of pilots crossed picket lines in the week after an Aug. 6 meeting in which Bavis called for consideration of ending the strike. Most union members angrily rejected the suggestion.

The union joined Eastern’s Machinists and flight attendants in a strike that began March 4.