A rash of firings, fears of mass layoffsand management overtures for wage concessions have set the
stage for all-out war between Eastern Airlines and its unions,
analysts and labor leaders say.
    The bitter labor-management dispute has hurt efforts to
revive the ailing carrier and could ultimately lead Texas Air,
Eastern's new owner, to tranfer scores of Eastern jets to its
non-union sister airlines, analysts said.
    "It's a trump card that Texas Air could resort to if things
get bad enough -- repainting Eastern planes and shifting them
over Continental Airlines," said Louis Marckesano, an analyst
for Janney Montgomery Scott Inc of Philadelphia.
    Eastern lost 130.8 mln dlrs in 1986, and analysts see
little chance of the carrier returning to profitability this
year.
    Since the Miami-based carrier was taken over by Texas Air
last year, the morale of Eastern's 38,000 employees has
plummeted, workers and labor leaders say.
    Some Eastern officials acknowledge privately that morale
problems have contributed to high absenteeism and a decline in
customer service, triggering a barrage of passenger complaints.
    Union leaders are accusing Eastern's managers -- many of
them newly installed by Texas Air chairman Frank Lorenzo -- of
conducting a campaign of harassment and intimidation aimed at
ridding the airline of high-paid, senior employees.
    "It's an underhanded way of forcing experienced people out
in an attempt to cut the company's labor costs," said Nancy
Tauss, vice president of the Transport Workers Union Local 553.
    Some flight attendants complain that they are being stalked
by what they call "spyriders" -- teams of auditors they say
have been hired by Lorenzo to fly on Eastern jets and secretly
examine flight crew performance.
    Since the beginning of the year, at least a dozen flight
attendants have been fired as a result of such audits, some for
having as little as two dlrs missing from liquor sales and
movie headset rentals, Tauss said.
    Eastern officials acknowledge that management is tightening
its accounting procedures and cracking down on absenteeism,
which the airline says cost 70 mln dlrs last year -- the 
highest in the industry.
    But Eastern spokeman Jim Ashlock denied that the Miami-base
airline was using unfair labor tactics. "We're just trying to
correct long-standing problems and that causes some
dissatisfaction," he said.
    U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, has met with
groups of dissident Eastern employees in Atlanta and is
reported to have told them he may call for hearings on the
airline's labor tactics.
    Labor and management have a long history of bitter
relations at Eastern Airlines.
    But the conflict has escalated sharply since January 21,
when Eastern president Philip Bakes called for a reduction of
490 mln dlrs, or 29 pct, in annual labor costs, mostly through
union concessions.
    Eastern's three principal unions have rejected demands for
wage cuts and have refused to open their contracts for
renegotiation.
    Union officials say that in retaliation for their
resistance, the airline has launched a "firing frenzy" aimed at
intimidating employees and squeezing concessions from labor.
    During 1986 -- the year in which Texas Air managers assumed
control of Eastern -- 123 flight attendants were fired.  That
was nearly five times greater than 1985, the union said. In the
first two months of this year 35 flight attendants losing their
jobs, according to union records.
    Other unions report similar losses.
    Texas Air last month said it would switch six of Eastern's
wide-body jets to Continental, its cut-rate sister airline.
    Eastern has begun hiring other Texas Air carriers to repair
its planes in several cities and plans to shut down some
maintenance bases, according to a recent internal memo.
    "Texas Air is not going to write checks to Eastern to
underwrite an outmoded labor cost structure," Bakes told a
meeting of Miami businessmen this month. He denied, however,
that Lorenzo planned to strip Eastern of its assets.
 Reuter
