United States 1981

Synopsis

Following failed efforts to reach a contract agreement, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), a union affiliate of the AFL-CIO, polled its members for a strike vote on 31 July 1981. Ninety-five percent of the air traffic controllers voted to strike. PATCO president Robert Poli set the strike date at 3 August if union demands were not met. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the employer of the air traffic controllers, refused to change the last offer to the union. President Ronald Reagan, who had been supported by PATCO in his bid for election less than a year before, announced on 3 August that if the strikers did not return to work within 48 hours, their jobs would be terminated. Reagan decertified the union and fired 11,359 air traffic controllers for not returning to work. The move enforced a 1955 regulation that denied federal employees the right to strike. His...