Word: borman
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...after it had first filed for protection from creditors under bankruptcy laws and then ordered its workers to take pay cuts that in some cases exceeded 50%. At Eastern (1982 revenues: $3.76 billion), where losses reached $128.9 million during the three quarters that ended last month, Chairman Frank Borman gave employees an ultimatum: accept wage reductions of 15% by Oct. 12, or Eastern would also file for bankruptcy. In addition, Eastern's more than 5,000 flight attendants were set to strike the Miami-based carrier unless it agreed to a new contract...
Other unionized carriers looking for their own routes to survival are closely watching Continental's bankruptcy and reorganization. Former Astronaut Frank Borman, 55, chairman of Eastern Air Lines, which is $2 billion in debt and lost $94.4 million in the first half of this year alone, has already said he might follow Lorenzo. Two days after Continental's ploy, Borman told Eastern's 37,500 employees that if they do not accept pay cuts of at least 15%, the company will be forced to either shut down à la Braniff or go into bankruptcy à la Continental...
...Borman has asked Eastern employees for wage concessions in the past, and they have delivered, giving up possibly more than employees of any other airline. It is unclear whether workers will come around again. Borman, say insiders, has become increasingly aloof and tightlipped, and resentment toward him is growing throughout East- ern. Said Al Hanson, a union spokesman at the airline: "This is a manufactured situation. It is time for Borman to exit; he's become totally noncredible." Borman has given his employees until Oct. 12 to agree to lower wages...
...past three years, Eastern, which hauls more passengers than any other U.S. airline, has lost $158 million and run up a long-term debt of $1.9 billion in an aggressive program to expand and modernize its fleet. Voicing "grave concern" at the cost of the pact, Chairman Frank Borman fretted: "Ordinarily, an event of this nature is cause for satisfaction and relief on the part of both parties. Unfortunately, such is not the case in this agreement...
Eastern's workers felt they had been sacrificing long enough. When the airline was nearly bankrupt in 1975, Borman persuaded his unions to take a one-year wage freeze. Over the past three years, they agreed to defer 3.5% of their pay because the airline was losing money. Now that mechanics have won a big pay hike, Eastern faces a new round of tough negotiations with its 6,300 flight attendants...