Word: lorenzo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Charles Bryan, the tough-talking leader of the airline's machinists, who makes no attempt to hide his personal animus toward Lorenzo, responded with characteristic defiance. Said he: "We take no responsibility for the strike. This is a Frank Lorenzo strike." Eastern's differences with its unions had long since deteriorated into a bitter and highly personal feud between the two men. While Eastern insisted that the airline could not survive without substantial wage concessions from the machinists, Bryan maintained that Lorenzo was out to destroy the carrier and sell it off for his own profit. Lorenzo's battle with...
That set the tone for the showdown. U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner, announcing that President Bush refused to intervene in the Eastern strike, could not resist a verbal shiv of his own. "Mr. Lorenzo," he said, "has obviously not got the trust and admiration of his employees." As unionists burned an effigy of the Texas Air chairman, their leaders laid ambitious plans to expand the strike through a series of secondary boycotts that would tie up commuter traffic across the country -- a nightmare that was averted when judges in several cities slapped temporary restraining orders on strikes of intercity rail...
Even so, Eastern's determination to keep planes in the air during the strike quickly unraveled as pilots refused to cross picket lines. Since he took over Eastern in 1986, the pilots charged, Lorenzo has systematically stripped the airline of its most valuable assets, leaving it too small and weak to compete...
...sell eight boarding gates at the Philadelphia airport to USAir for $70 million. It picked up $15 million more by agreeing to sell its Philadelphia-Toronto and Philadelphia-Montreal routes to USAir. In addition, Eastern leased landing slots on its New York-Miami routes to Continental. Accusations flew that Lorenzo was dismantling the airline even during the strike. Responded Lorenzo angrily: "Had we sold assets quicker, Eastern wouldn't be in bankruptcy today." Along with the shuttle sale to Trump, the deals with USAir will have to be approved by the bankruptcy judge...
...demand. TWA Chairman Carl Icahn confirmed that Eastern's unions had asked him to launch a bid for the airline. Icahn briefly considered such a bid last fall. He found the idea interesting, he said, but did not want to interfere in Eastern's collective-bargaining process. Lorenzo was cool to the suggestion. "Our major goal at the moment is coming to an agreement with our unions," he said. "I can't imagine how having someone like Icahn get involved will do anything but interfere with the process...