Eastern, Unions Set Meetings in Effort to Get Back to Business

Eastern Airlines and its pilots and flight attendants unions have scheduled meetings this week to discuss returning to work and resuming contract negotiations, company and union spokesmen said today.

Both unions voted last week to end their sympathy strike against the carrier. Only the machinists, who walked out in a wage dispute March 3, are still on strike.

Representatives of the Air Line Pilots Assn. met in Miami with company officials today to discuss “the basic work situation,” said Eastern spokesman Robin Matell.

ALPA’s contract negotiating team was to meet with the company Tuesday, and representatives from the Transport Workers Union are tentatively scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss their contracts.

The pilots’ contract became amendable in July, 1988, and the flight attendants’ contract became amendable last Jan. 1. Under terms of the Railway Labor Act, their contracts do not expire, but remain in effect until a new agreement is reached.

Mediator Sam Cognata, who was working with the unions and the airline before the strike, will attempt to help them reach agreement under the auspices of the National Mediation Board, Matell said.