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President Clinton ended the prohibition on rehiring any air-traffic controller who went on strike in 1981. (To date, the FAA has rehired over 850 PATCO strikers.)
The Federal Labor Relations Authority de-certified PATCO.
June 19, 1987
August 17, 1981
August 12, 1993
October 22, 1981
NATCA was certified as the sole bargaining unit for air-traffic controllers employed by the FAA.
President Ronald Reagan speaks about the air traffic controllers strike.
3,000 supervisors, 2,000 non-striking controllers,
and 900 military controllers to replace those on strike.
Despite the immediate cancellation of 6,000 flights, the FAA’s contingency plan was able to sustain about 70% of the normally scheduled flights.
The FAA soon realized they could fully operate the nation’s transportation system safely and efficiently with one third less air traffic controllers; therefore, the PATCO strike really achieved the opposite of what the union had originally intended.
• The FAA still had to hire and train the PATCO replacements, which took an estimated three years, so consequently during times of low staffing, many temporary flight restrictions were established to reduce the number of aircraft at any one time.
• It was around this time that the FAA developed the concept of flow control, restricting departures until sufficient airspace was ensured.
• The FAA claimed staffing would be restored to prestrike levels within two years, but it took nearly ten years to bring staff levels back to normal capacity.
• It also cost billions of dollars, more than what PATCO had demanded.
In 1955, Congress had made strikes by federal employees, punishable by fines and incarceration, a provision that was upheld by a judicial decision in 1971.
The Reagan administration jailed PATCO leaders for ignoring federal injunctions, and the union was fined.
In October 1981, the Federal Labor Relations Authority decertified PATCO for promoting an illegal strike.
Cadambi, A. (2010, November 22). American air-traffic controllers strike for benefits and pay, 1981. Global Nonviolent
Action Database. Retrieved from: https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/american-air-traffic-controllers-strike-benefits-and-pay-1981
Glass, A. (2008, August 5). Reagan fires 11,000 striking air traffic controllers Aug. 5, 1981. Politico. Retrieved from:
https://www.politico.com/story/2008/08/reagan-fires-11-000-striking-air-traffic-controllers-aug-5-1981-012292
Kaps, R. W., Hamilton, J.S., Bliss, T.J. (2012). Labor relations in the aviation and aerospace industries. Carbondale, IL:
Southern Illinois University Press.
Macaray, D. (2017, August 30). Labor Day: Ronald Reagan and the PATCO Strike. HuffPost News. Retrieved from:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/labor-day-ronald-reagan-and-the-patco-strike_us_59a6d604e4b05fa16286beb1
Pardlo, G. (2017, February 12). The Cost of Defying the President. The New Yorker. Retrieved from:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-cost-of-defying-the-president