PATCO strike of 1981

    Today I will be covering the Labor unrest back in 1981. First and foremost, I had no idea there was such a massive event for ATC personnel. I mean president Reagan gave all 12,300 members who went on strike a two day ultimatum just four hours after the strike was initiated. The amount of people who went on strike took up 82% of the total force, that is insane! Although this act basically ended with PATCO disbanding after the strike, it created the groundwork for the NATCA and the PASS to represent the Air Traffic Controllers and the Electronics Technicians while being unionized. This whole act ended up stopping over 35% of the nations flights, that is a crippling number and should've never gotten to that point. I believe the members of PATCO were well within their rights to demand more for their annual salary, less work hours, and a better retirement. ATC personnel have always been a huge highlight in the aviation community. I constantly hear about the stress of ATC and it seems unfortunate that this event had to go through for the community to finally get some traction in better benefits and unionization.




ATC picture
http://flyingstartacc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ATC-Course-Banner.jpg

PATCO Strike information

https://libraries.uta.edu/news-events/blog/1981-patco-strike

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