It’s been almost 32 years since the landmark and historical strike between PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controller Organization) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The strike changed and revamped the way worker unions worked and the way governments negotiated with them. The strike and its implications still find their effects in modern day America and are reflected in the way private companies treat their employees. The strike that started on August 3, 1981 set a precedent for future union strikes and curtailed their powers and influence to a very large extent. Not only Ronald Regan, the then President of United States, fired a staggering 11,435 employees who were part of the strike but also refused to budge under the pressure by PATCO, thus kicking off a new kind of relationship between government and trade unions with government dominating and dictating to the unions.
PATCO as an organization and union was formed with the sole aim to take care of the interests of employees employed under Federal Aviation Administration. The organization came up in 1968 with the help and assistance of attorney F. Lee Bailey. Trade unions were a relatively fresh process and were taken seriously by the government. The organization under the leadership of Mr. Poli decided to take on the government by threatening it with a strike if it didn’t heed to its demands. Some of the demands that the union put forward were a steep hike in pay for controllers, shorter workweek and increased and improved staffing. The organization also complained about the poor state of employment levels and safety measures in the aviation department and wanted things to be taken up quickly and seriously. The organization wanted the pay of the employees to be increased from $20,462 to $49,299, a whopping hike of $10,000. Moreover, the union demanded for a five-day 32-hour work week with the ability to retire after 20 years (Johnson 2012). The total cost of the entire package of benefits and compensation that the union asked the government for was estimated at a staggering $770 million.
The president, Mr. Ronald was indeed right and justified in the way he handled the crisis or the strike. The union reacted irresponsibly and refused to accept a reasonable package offered by the Federal Aviation Administration that provided PALCO with $40 million benefits and shorter hours. The President refused to be taken for a ride and rightly so. He dealt the threat offered by the union with a heavy hand since he contended that organizations and government owned companies couldn’t work under constant atmosphere of terror due to such actions by the unions. He was also right in his decision of firing the employees since the strike was illegal since federal employees had no right to strike. His actions not only saved the companies of often unwarranted threats posed by labor unions but also increased the work productivity and improved working conditions by almost ending labor union strikes. Although there were 39 illegal work stoppages against the federal government between 1962 and 1981, no significant federal job actions followed Regan’s firing of the Patco strikers (McCartin 2011).
The strike between PATCO and FAA was the game changer. It shifted the balance from the trade unions to the governments. It put an end to the frequent and illegal strikes that the country suffered mostly due to unreasonable demands by such unions and organizations. The impact of the stand off is still there to be felt, thanks to sound and brave decision making by Ronald Reagan.
References
McCartin, Joseph A (2011). The strike that Busted Unions.
The New York Times, Retrieved May 2, 2013, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/opinion/reagan-vs-patco-the-strike-that-
busted-unions.html?_r=1&
Johnson, R T (2012). Ronal Reagan and The Patco Strike: Broken Promises and a Broken Union.
The History Rat, Retrieved May 2, 2013, from
http://historyrat.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/reagan-and-the-patco-strike-
broken-promises/
