geekyThe Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (known by the acronym PATCO) was a trade union that operated from 1968 until its decertification in 1981. The end of PATCO came about as the result of a strike that was declared illegal by President Ronald Reagan, a man who had once been a union president himself (the Screen Actors Guild.)
PATCO was formed in 1968. The driving force behind the union's creation was famed attorney F. Lee Bailey, who was also a pilot. On July 3, 1968, PATCO announced a program known "Operation Air Safety" in which all members of the union were ordered to adhere strictly to the established separation standards for aircraft. The program was designed with safety in mind and to address the stressful situation faced by many air traffic controllers, but it was met with resistance from airlines and with disdain from airline passengers because it resulted in large delay in air traffic. PATCO was formally declared to be a trade union in 1969 by the U.S. Civil Service Commission. That year, from June 18 to 20, PATCO conducted its fist job action when 477 controllers conducted a three-day "sick-out" in which the members called in sick. This tactic was used again on March 25, 1970, as the union lodged a protest against actions taken by the Federal Aviation Administration that they felt were unfair. At that time over 2,000 controllers did not report to work as scheduled, once again calling in sick. This tactic was used to get around federal law against strikes by government unions. Management personnel attempted to assume many of the duties of these controllers but major traffic delays around the country resulted. After a few days, the federal courts intervened and most controllers went back to work by order of the court, but action drew attention to problems in the air traffic control system.
In retrospect, it is ironic that during the 1980 presidential election, PATCO (along with the Teamsters and the Air Line Pilots Association) refused to support President Jimmy Carter, and instead endorsing Republican Party candidate Ronald Reagan, the man who would bring about the union's demise. PATCO's refusal to support the Democratic Party was because of poor labor relations with the FAA under the Carter administration and because of Reagan's endorsement of the union and its fight for better working conditions during the 1980 election campaign.
In the first months of the Reagan Presidency, the union unsuccessfully tried to reach agreement with the federal government over its grievances. As a result, a decision was made to take job action. At 7 a.m. on August 3, 1981, the union declared a strike. It was asking for better working conditions, better pay, and a 32-hour work week (a four-day week of eight-hour days). PATCO also wanted to be excluded from civil service regulations which prohibited strikes by federal government employees.
Ronald Reagan responded decisively and promptly. On the day that the strike began, he called the PATCO strike a "peril to national safety" and ordered the striking workers to return back to work, citing his authority under the terms of the Taft-Hartley Act. In response, only 1,300 of the nearly 13,000 controllers returned to work. At 10:55 a.m. on August 3rd, Reagan included the following in a statement to the media from the Rose Garden of the White House:
"Let me read the solemn oath taken by each of these employees, a sworn affidavit, when they accepted their jobs: 'I am not participating in any strike against the Government of the United States or any agency thereof, and I will not so participate while an employee of the Government of the United States or any agency thereof.'"
Here is a video of the full statement, courtesy of the Miller Center of Public Affairs:
President Reagan demanded that those remaining on strike return to work within 48 hours. If they did not do so, he said that their jobs would be forfeited. He also said that Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis was making arrangements for the hiring of replacement workers and was also making other contingency plans. The government was able to make arrangements to have 50% of flights available by prioritizing some flights, cancelling others and taking other measures, some of which were once that PATCO had lobbied for.
On August 5, most of the PATCO workers' were still refusing to return to work. As a result, Reagan issued an executive order firing the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his earlier order to return to work. His new order also banned them from federal service for life. As a result, the FAA was required to hire and train enough controllers to replace those that had been fired. This was a process that normally took approximately three years. The fired workers were replaced with non-participating controllers, supervisors, staff personnel, and by controllers transferred temporarily from other facilities. Some military controllers were also utilized until their replacements could be trained.
It would take almost ten years before the overall staffing levels for air traffic controllers returned to normal. PATCO was decertified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority on October 22, 1981. The decision was appealed unsuccessfully. Despite the ban against the strikers returning to the federal civil service, some of the former striking controllers were allowed to reapply for their old jobs after 1986 and some were rehired. A new bargaining unit known as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, was organized in 1987. The civil service ban on the remaining strike participants was lifted by President Bill Clinton in 1993.