On the Air Traffic Controllers Strike

Press release

By: Ronald Reagan

Date: August 3, 1981

Source: White House Press Release. "On the Air Traffic Controllers Strike." August 3, 1981.

About the Author: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) served as the fortieth president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Noted for his conservative politics, the popular Republican focused on economic reforms that reversed some of the gains made by labor during previous presidential administrations.

INTRODUCTION

Ronald Reagan's high-profile battle with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers' Organization (PATCO) served as a pivotal moment in the labor movement. Besides showing Reagan to be tough and confident, the struggle gave notice to business executives that the federal government approved of breaking the power of labor unions. Reagan reversed fifty years of federal support for unionization.

PATCO members ran the sophisticated technology that controlled air traffic in the U.S. They regarded themselves as highly trained professionals in stressful jobs, made worse by long hours and outmoded equipment. During the 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan had met with the president of PATCO to promise that he would take every necessary step to provide the best air traffic equipment available and to improve working conditions by hiring more controllers. PATCO then became one of the few labor unions to endorse Reagan over incumbent Jimmy Carter. After the election, Reagan changed his course. The PATCO contract expired in March 1981 and Reagan's advisers warned him that the administration's position in those negotiations would send signals to several other unions. Particularly worrying, the contract of the massive postal workers' union was set to expire shortly after the PATCO contract. Reagan was also warned that a strike would possibly cost the nation $150 million per day in lost domestic commerce alone.

PATCO sought a $10,000 per year raise, a thirty-two-hour work week, and a better early retirement package. Reagan offered $2,300 in additional benefits and pay. The controllers were banned from legally striking or staging a slowdown because they were federal employees. However, in years past, controllers had effectively slowed plane traffic at various airports to win improvements in every area from staffing to pay. On August 2, 1981, the controllers went on strike. The action was inconveniencing and potentially dangerous as well as illegal. In a press conference on August 3, Reagan joined Secretary of Transportation Drew Lewis and Attorney General William French Smith to announce that the 15,000 striking PATCO members would be fired if they did not return to work. Lewis added that there would be no negotiations during the strike and that supervisory personnel, joined by 150 military controllers, had the system running at fifty percent capacity.

PRIMARY SOURCE

This morning at 7 a.m. the union representing those who man America's air traffic control facilities called a strike. This was the culmination of seven months of negotiations between the Federal Aviation Administration and the union. At one point in these negotiations agreement was reached and signed by both sides, granting a $40 million increase in salaries and benefits. This is twice what other government employees can expect. It was granted in recognition of the difficulties inherent in the work these people perform. Now, however, the union demands are seventeen times what had been agreed to—$681 million. This would impose a tax burden on their fellow citizens which is unacceptable.

I would like to thank the supervisors and controllers who are on the job today, helping to get the nation's air system operating safely. In the New York area, for example, four supervisors were scheduled to report for work, and seventeen additionally volunteered. At National Airport a traffic controller told a newsperson he had resigned from the union and reported to work because, "How can I ask my kids to obey the law if I don't?" This is a great tribute to America.

Let me make one thing plain. I respect the right of workers in the private sector to strike. Indeed, as president of my own union, I led the first strike ever called by that union. I guess I'm maybe the first one to ever hold this office who is a lifetime member of an AFL-CIO union. But we cannot compare labor-management relations in the private sector with government. Government cannot close down the assembly line. It has to provide without interruption the protective services which are govern-ment's reason for being.

It was in recognition of this that the Congress passed a law forbidding strikes by government employees against the public safety. 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."

It is for this reason that I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning they are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within forty-eight hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.

SIGNIFICANCE

In the wake of the firing of the PATCO members, it still remained more difficult to fire a union member than a non-union worker. Union membership had started to decline before the PATCO strike, despite claims that the episode led to a weakening of unions. In 1945, thirty percent of Americans belonged to a union. As industries deregulated, new business formed around high-technology products, and less-educated workers failed to join unions, union membership dropped to twenty-three percent by the start of Reagan's presidency.

The PATCO union, however, was destroyed. On August 5, Reagan announced that thirty-eight percent of PATCO members had returned to work. On August 13, the government announced that 10,438 controllers had been fired and flight schedules had returned to eighty percent normal. On December 9, Reagan confirmed his position that fired controllers would not be rehired, although they could apply for other government positions. Polls showed that sixty-seven percent of Americans approved of Reagan's handling of the strike, including sixty-one percent of blue-collar workers who would normally back labor unions. In 1987, controllers approved the National Air Traffic Controllers Association as their bargaining agent. The new union gained support because of disputes among the controllers and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that reprised many of the issues that had angered PATCO members: poor labor-management communications, inadequate staffing levels, high traffic volume, and outdated equipment. In 1987, the U.S. air traffic control system handled three million more flights than it had in 1981 with 3,000 fewer controllers than in 1981. By 2006, 4,000 of the 16,000 controllers hired after the 1981 strike were ready for retirement. Union leaders predict an upcoming shortage of controllers.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Northrup, Herbert R. and Amie D. Thornton. The Federal Government as Employer: The Federal Labor Relations Authority and the PATCO Challenge. Philadelphia: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1986.

Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1998.

Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005.

Shostak, Arthur B. and David Skocik. The Air Controllers' Controversy: Lessons from the PATCO Strike. New York: Human Science Press, 1986.