Top 10 Interesting Facts about the PATCO Strike (1981)

Top 10 Interesting Facts about the PATCO Strike (1981)

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organisation (PATCO) went on a strike in 1981. The strike is said to have changed the American labour force and it is an access point in teaching labour relations across the United States of America. The strike was a turning point in the country’s history in that they became more reluctant to use strikes as a negotiation tool when demanding something as it did not do any good in the PATCO strike.

This article will look at some facts about the strike so that the reader can be equipped with critical facts about how the strike was instrumental in the labour relations sector of the United States. Furthermore, the article will also provide the reader with extra information that they may not have been aware of concerning the strike.

1. The founding of PATCO

A picture of an air traffic controller in an airport by Petar Marjanovic-Wikimedia

The professional air traffic controllers organisation was founded in 1968 with the help of pilot and attorney F. Lee Bailey. The newly formed organisation then announced an Operation Air Safety in which all the members were required to subscribe to the established separation standards for aircraft.

The organisation operated as a state union until it was decertified in 1981 by the then President of the United States of America following an illegal strike. At the time of its dissolvement, the organisation had 13,000 members who came from different

2. PATCO called for new contract negotiation with the Federal Aviation Administration

In February 1981, the professional air traffic controllers organisation opened new contract negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration. The Federal Aviation Administration is the organisation that employs air traffic controllers.

PATCO called for the reduction of the 32-hour work week, better retirement packages and a $10,000 increase in salaries for all air traffic controllers citing safety concerns. The contract negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration stalled as the trade union were demanding too much.

3. PATCO members go on strike

President Ronald Reagan addressing the press on the PATCO strikes by the U.S National Archives-Wikimedia

In August 1981, PATCO members who were about 13,000 went on a strike after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract with the Federal Aviation Administration. Going on the strike made the union violate the 1995 law that banned government strikes. The union may have decided to go on strike as several other unions had gone on strike before without penalties.

President Ronald Reagan declared the strike a peril to the safety of the nation and instructed the controllers to go back to work. Reagan further warned that strikes were illegal for public employees and if they did not return to work within 48 hours, then they would be terminated.

4. A federal Judge found the president of the union to be in contempt of court

After President Ronald Reagan ordered the members of the PATCO organisation, a federal judge found the PATCO president Robert Poli to have been in contempt of court. The union was then ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for each day that the workers did not go back to work. During that time, about 7,000 flights were cancelled as there were no workers to control the flights. Management in different airports tried to fill in the gaps that the air controllers who were on strike had left.

5. The striking workers were fired

A military Air traffic controller by Lance Cpl. Anne Henry-Wikimedia

In August 1985, most of the striking air traffic controllers were fired. President Ronald Reagan also banned them from ever being rehired by the Federal Aviation Administration. This means that their career in air traffic control would end.

The spaces left by those who were fired were initially filled by the workers who had not gone on strike and military controllers.

6. New applications for air traffic controllers were received

On 17^th August 1981, the Federal Aviation Administration started accepting new applications for the post of the air traffic controller. This is because the remaining staff could not handle the workload left by the workers who had been fired.

Furthermore, the workers who were on strike were many which mean that the Federal Aviation Administration would not ignore the gaps left as they would burden the remaining workforce.

7. PATCO is decertified

On 22^nd October 1981, the Federal Labour Relations Authority decertified PATCO because of the strike they had organised. This was done before the new workers who had applied for the post of air traffic controllers were hired.

A new union was to be created so that they can represent the conquest of recruits. The union formed was known as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The Federal Aviation Administration did so because PATCO had not adhered to the rules that ban government officials from going on strikes.

8. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association is certified

A picture of the NATCA building in Washington DC by Kurt Kaiser-Wikimedia

After PATCO had been disbanded following the strike, NATCA was formed and certified as the sole bargaining unit for all air traffic controllers that were employed by the Federal Aviation Administration. This means that any matter that the workers have and want to be addressed, then the union was mandated to present the issues to the Federal Aviation Administration in a way that is acceptable and follows the set procedures.

9. The president allows the rehiring of the fired air traffic controllers

During the Reagan administration, the president banned the workers who were on strike from ever being hired by the Federal Aviation Administration. However, when President Clinton assumed office, he ended the prohibition on rehiring any air traffic controllers that had been fired for going on strikes. More than 800 workers were rehired following this directive.

10. The Federal Aviation Reauthorization is passed

In October 1996, Congress passed a bill known as the Federal Reauthorization Act which codified the National Air Traffic Controllers Association’s ability to bargain collectively with the Federal Aviation Administration for wages and other matters that concern the workers.