CHAPTER TWO

As Schulte sat there talking the tough-guy strike lingo, my thoughts returned to the previously described contract negotiations. Back then, Schulte fervently took the position that we should capitulate. He was eventually persuaded to take the hard line by the majority opinion, but was clearly fearful over having to stand up and fight. Had he undergone a transformation, or was he privy to other information that he wasn’t sharing? I suspected it was the latter, which was seemingly confirmed when he finally stated that it appeared as though management wanted to accelerate the negotiating process and force a quick confrontation. He claimed to be clue-less why this was happening. One thing was apparent to me: he was in way over his head.

The waitress brought our meals and nothing further was spoken during dinner. As we finished, Schulte got around to discussing the particulars of my involvement. He wanted me to set up a communications network, with emphasis on the written word, preparing the pilots for a strike vote, emphasizing this be accomplished as quickly as possible. This further confirmed that he knew more about the timeline than he was letting on. I couldn’t help comparing the John Wayne-type seated across the table to the wimp who had earlier pleaded surrender. I wondered how he could have been so emotional then and remain so outwardly unruffled now, because if the situation he described was correct, my gut instinct was the shit was going to hit the fan, and very soon.

Schulte next began blabbing about the International Association of Machinists union, the IAM. I didn’t want to hear about them and told him so. Yet he continued rehashing the past, when the airline was brought to the brink of a strike over the IAM contract negotiations. Maybe his mind was stuck in a time warp, because back then Borman’s hype to the press and other employee groups prior to that strike deadline was that Eastern would fly through it. But airline insiders and some in the media wondered how any planes could be in the air when all the mechanics would be out and needed repairs couldn’t be accomplished. Borman had caved at the eleventh hour and signed a contract containing raises for the IAM, but by then Eastern had lost tens of thousands of potential customers and many millions of dollars in revenue. Borman’s public proclamations also frightened the pilots and flight attendants into giving monetary concessions. It turned out the IAM pay increases were paid for with that money, which created massive in-house discord. One employee group became pitted against another, which created i