During airline deregulation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, labor disputes and high debt loads strained the company under the leadership of former astronaut Frank Borman. Frank Lorenzo acquired Eastern in 1985 and moved many of its assets to his other airlines, including Continental Airlines and Texas Air Corporation. After continued labor disputes and a crippling strike in 1989, Eastern ran out of money and was liquidated in 1991.
That doesn’t mention how the deregulation basically caused a race to the bottom with airfares, which is what caused Eastern to try and cut wages, which is what induced the strikes. They would’ve gone bankrupt much sooner, but worker productivity skyrocketed when they had partial ownership despite agreeing to taking a cut in wages.
Ultimately management didn’t want to give further ownership of the company to the workers (which is what they were striking for), and Frank Borman straight up admits in the film that other airline executives were already shaming him for having given the workers any ownership, essentially saying that the workers should always be kept in their place with a crazily candid eliteness.
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