View source for Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968)

{{Short description|American labor union (1968–1981)}}
{{For|the active PATCO labor unions or disambiguation|PATCO (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox union
| name                = PATCO
| location_country    = United States
| members             = 13,000
| full_name           = Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization
| native_name         = 
| image               = PATCO logo.png
| founded             = 1968
| dissolved           = 1981
| merged_label        = Decertified
| merged              = 
| key_people          = 
| headquarters        = 
| website             = 
| footnotes           = 
}}
{{Labor}}

The '''Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO)''' was a [[Labor unions in the United States|United States trade union]] of [[air traffic controller]]s that operated from 1968 until its [[decertification]] in 1981 following [[1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike|an illegal strike]] broken by the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]]; in striking, the union violated 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p (now {{USC|5|7311}}), which prohibits strikes by federal government employees.

==Beginnings==
{| class="wikitable" border="1" align="right"
|-
!Year
!Presidents of PATCO
|-
|1969–1970
|James E. Hays
|-
|1970–1980
|John F. Leyden
|-
|1980–1982
|[[Robert E. Poli]]
|-
|1982
|Gary W. Eads
|}

PATCO was founded in 1968 with the assistance of attorney and pilot [[F. Lee Bailey]]. On July 3, 1968, PATCO announced "Operation Air Safety" in which all members were ordered to adhere strictly to the established separation standards for aircraft. The resultant large delay of air traffic was the first of many official and unofficial "slowdowns" that PATCO would initiate.

In 1969, the U.S. Civil Service Commission ruled that PATCO was no longer a professional association but in fact a trade union.<ref name="Nolan">{{cite book |last = Nolan |first = Michael S. |title = Fundamentals of Air Traffic Control |edition = 3rd |publisher = Brooks/Cole |location = Pacific Grove, California |date = 1999 |isbn = 978-0-534-56795-8 |pages = 33–35 }}</ref> On June 18–20, 1969, 477 controllers conducted a three-day sick-out.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Air Progress|date=August 1989|volume=51|number=8|page=81|last1=Komos|first1=Nick|publisher=Challenge Publications|publication-place=Canoga, California|issn=0002-2500|lccn=43040230|oclc=1478636}}</ref>

On March 25, 1970, the newly designated union orchestrated a controller "[[sickout]]" to protest many of the [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]] actions that they felt were unfair; over 2,000 controllers around the country did not report to work as scheduled and informed management that they were ill.<ref>{{cite magazine |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943943,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930063735/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943943,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = September 30, 2007 |title = One Man's Slow-Motion Aerial Act |magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date = April 6, 1970 |access-date = September 17, 2009 }}</ref> Controllers called in sick to circumvent the federal law against strikes by government unions. Management personnel attempted to assume many of the duties of the missing controllers but major traffic delays around the country occurred. On April 16, the federal courts intervened and most controllers went back to work by order of the court, but the government was forced to the bargaining table. The sickout led officials to recognize that the [[Air traffic control|ATC]] system was operating nearly at capacity. To alleviate some of this, Congress accelerated the installation of automated systems, reopened the air traffic controller training academy in Oklahoma City, began hiring air traffic controllers at an increasing rate, and raised salaries to help attract and retain controllers.<ref name="Nolan" />

In the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]], PATCO (along with the [[Teamsters]] and the [[Air Line Pilots Association]]) refused to back President [[Jimmy Carter]], instead [[political endorsement|endorsing]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] candidate [[Ronald Reagan]]. PATCO's refusal to endorse the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] stemmed in large part from poor labor relations with the FAA (the employer of PATCO members) under the Carter administration and Ronald Reagan's endorsement of the union and its struggle for better conditions during the 1980 election campaign.<ref name="Beik">{{cite book |last = Beik |first = Mildred A. |title = Labor Relations |publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group |location = Westport, Connecticut |date = 2005 |pages = 249–257 |isbn = 0-313-31864-6 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji9Ro-oHjjkC }}</ref><ref name="Fantasia">{{cite book |last1 = Fantasia |first1 = Rick |first2 = Kim |last2 = Voss |name-list-style = amp |title = Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement |publisher = University of California Press |date = 2004 |location = Berkeley |page = 67 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Wc0tGBsQRNkC |isbn = 0-520-24090-1 }}</ref>

During his campaign, Reagan sent a letter to Robert E. Poli, the new president of PATCO, in which he declared support for the organization's demands and a disposition to work toward solutions. In it, he stated "I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available, and to adjust staff levels and workdays so they are commensurate with achieving the maximum degree of public safety," and "I pledge to you that my administration will work very closely with you to bring about a spirit of cooperation between the President and the air traffic controllers." This letter gave Poli and the organization a sense of security that led to an overestimation of their position in the negotiations with the FAA, which contributed to their decision to strike.<ref>{{cite document |last = Durnin |first = Steven E. |title = The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Strike: A Retrospective Analysis |id = Order No. EP31967 |publisher = Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University |year = 1994 }}</ref>

==August 1981 strike==
{{Main|1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike}}
<!-- This section is linked from [[Air traffic controller#See also]]. If you change the heading, please update the link. -->
[[File:Reagan speaks on air traffic controllers strike 1981.jpg|thumb|200px|right|On August 3, 1981, during a press conference regarding the PATCO strike, President Reagan stated: "They are in violation of the law and if they do not report for work within 48 hours they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs-events/webcasts-and-podcasts/podcasts/words-to-live-by/air-traffic-controllers/ |title=Air Traffic Controllers - August 3, 1981 |website=Ronald Reagan Institute Webcasts and Podcasts |publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute}}</ref>]]

In February 1981, PATCO and the FAA began new contract negotiations. Citing safety concerns, PATCO called for a reduced 32-hour work week, a $10,000 pay increase for all air-traffic controllers and a better benefits package for retirement.<ref name="NPR">{{cite news |first = Kathleen |last = Schalch |url = https://www.npr.org/2006/08/03/5604656/1981-strike-leaves-legacy-for-american-workers |title = 1981 Strike Leaves Legacy for American Workers |work = Morning Edition |publisher = NPR |date = August 3, 2006 }}</ref> Negotiations quickly stalled. Then, in June, the FAA offered a new three-year contract with $105 million of up front conversions in raises to be paid in 11.4% increases over the next three years, a raise more than twice what was being given to other federal employees, "The average federal controller (at a GS-13 level, a common grade controller) earned $36,613, which was 18% less than private sector counterpart";<ref name=":0" /> with the raise demanded, the average federal pay would have exceeded the private sector pay by 8%, along with better benefits and shorter working hours.  However, because the offer did not include a shorter work week or earlier retirement, PATCO rejected the offer.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first = Victor |editor-last = Bondi |chapter = Government and Politics: Union Busting |title = American Decades: 1980–1989 |location = Detroit |publisher = Gale Research |year = 1996 |page = 304 }}</ref>

At 7 a.m. on August 3, 1981, the union declared a strike, seeking better working conditions, better pay (PATCO sought a total raise of $600 million over three years, compared to FAA's offer of $105 million)<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last = McCartin |first = Joseph A. |title = Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America |publisher = Oxford University Press |year = 2012 |isbn = 978-0199325207 |pages = 238–241 }}</ref> and a 32-hour workweek (a [[four-day week]] and an [[eight-hour day]] combined). In addition, PATCO wanted to be excluded from the civil service clauses that it had long disliked. In striking, the union violated 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p (now {{USC|5|7311}}), which prohibits strikes by federal government employees. Anthony Skirlick of the Los Angeles Center warned that these "Unrealistic demands in the face of this change is suicide".<ref name=":0" /> Despite supporting PATCO's effort in his 1980 campaign, [[Ronald Reagan]] declared the PATCO strike a "peril to national safety" and ordered them back to work under the terms of the [[Taft–Hartley Act]]. Only 1,300 (10%) of the nearly 13,000 controllers returned to work.<ref name="Beik" /> At 10:55&nbsp;a.m., Reagan included the following in a statement: "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.'"<ref>{{cite speech |title = Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike |date = August 3, 1981 |url = https://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/80381a.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160123122143/https://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/80381a.htm |archive-date = January 23, 2016 }}</ref> He then demanded those remaining on strike return to work within 48 hours or officially forfeit their positions.

After PATCO disobeyed a federal court injunction ordering an end to the strike and return to work, a federal judge found union leaders including PATCO President [[Robert Poli]] to be in contempt of court, and the union was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, and certain named members were ordered to pay a $1,000 fine<ref>{{Cite court |url = https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/525/820/1692484/ |litigants = United States v. Professional Air Traffic Controllers, Etc. |vol = 525 |reporter = F. Supp. |opinion = 820 |court = E.D. Mich. |year = 1981 }}</ref> for each day its members were on strike. At the same time, Transportation Secretary [[Drew Lewis]] organized for replacements and started contingency plans. By prioritizing and cutting flights severely (about 7,000), and even adopting methods of air traffic management that PATCO had previously lobbied for, the government was initially able to have 50% of flights available.<ref name="Beik" />

On August 5, following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, the Reagan administration fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order,<ref>{{cite news |last=Early |first=Steve |date=July 31, 2006 |title=An old lesson still holds for unions |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/07/31/an_old_lesson_still_holds_for_unions/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512043055/https://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/07/31/an_old_lesson_still_holds_for_unions/ |archive-date=2008-05-12 |access-date=August 15, 2007 |work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962487,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070903094708/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962487,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = September 3, 2007 |title = Unhappy Again |magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date = October 6, 1986 |access-date = August 15, 2007 }}</ref> and banned them from federal service for life. In the wake of the strike and mass firings, the FAA was faced with the difficult task of hiring and training enough controllers to replace those who had been fired. Under normal conditions, it took three years to train new controllers.<ref name="Nolan" />{{page needed|date=August 2020}} Until replacements could be trained, the vacant positions were temporarily filled with a mix of non-participating controllers, supervisors, staff personnel, some non-rated personnel, military controllers, and controllers transferred temporarily from other facilities. PATCO was [[decertification|decertified]] by the [[Federal Labor Relations Authority]] on October 22, 1981. The decision was appealed but to no avail,<ref>{{Cite news |title = Patco Decertification Vote Is Switched From 2–1 to 3–0 |newspaper = [[The New York Times]] |date = November 5, 1981 |url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE5DF1E39F936A35752C1A967948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fA%2fAir%20Traffic%20Control }}</ref> and attempts to use the courts to reverse the firings proved fruitless.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = Who Controls the Air? |magazine = Newsweek |issue = 98 |date = August 17, 1981 |pages = 18–24 }}</ref>

The FAA had initially claimed that staffing levels would be restored within two years; however, it took closer to 10 years before the overall staffing levels returned to normal.<ref name="Nolan" />

Some former striking controllers were allowed to reapply after 1986 and were rehired; they and their replacements are now represented by the [[National Air Traffic Controllers Association]], which was certified on June 19, 1987, and had no connection with PATCO. The civil service ban on the remaining strike participants was lifted by President [[Bill Clinton]] on August 12, 1993.<ref name="Van Horn">{{cite book |last1 = Van Horn |first1 = Carl E. |last2 = Schaffner |first2 = Herbert A. |name-list-style = amp |title = Work in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society |volume = ((Vol. 2)) |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vsCeCHxH7jQC |chapter = Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization Strike |year = 2003 |publisher = ABC-CLIO |pages = 444–446 |isbn = 1-57607-676-8 }}</ref> Nevertheless, by 2006 only 850 PATCO strikers had been rehired by the FAA.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-02 |title=The 1981 PATCO Strike |url=https://libraries.uta.edu/news/1981-patco-strike}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Reagan's firing of the government employees encouraged large private employers like [[Phelps Dodge]] ([[Arizona copper mine strike of 1983|1983]]), [[Hormel]] [[1985–86 Hormel strike|(1985–86)]], and [[International Paper]] ([[International Paper strike|1987]]) to hire striker replacements instead of negotiating in labor conflicts.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |first = Joseph A. |last = McCartin |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/opinion/reagan-vs-patco-the-strike-that-busted-unions.html |title = The Strike That Busted Unions |work = The New York Times |date = August 2, 2011 }}</ref> In 1970 there were over 380 major strikes or lockouts in the U.S.; by 1980 the number had dropped to under 200, in 1999 it fell to 17, and in 2010 there were only 11.<ref>{{cite book |first = Eugene V. |last = Resnick |title = AP United States History |edition = 2nd |location = Hauppauge, New York |publisher = Barron's |year = 2014 |page = 316 }}</ref>

In 2003, [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] Chairman [[Alan Greenspan]], speaking on the legacy of Ronald Reagan,<ref>{{cite speech |url = http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2003/200304092/default.htm |title = The Reagan Legacy: Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan |publisher = Ronald Reagan Library |location = Simi Valley, California |date = April 9, 2003 }}</ref> noted:
{{Quote | Perhaps the most important, and then highly controversial, domestic initiative was the firing of the air traffic controllers in August 1981. The President invoked the law that striking government employees forfeit their jobs, an action that unsettled those who cynically believed no President would ever uphold that law. President Reagan prevailed, but far more importantly his action gave weight to the legal right of private employers, previously not fully exercised, to use their own discretion to both hire and discharge workers.|author=|title=|source=}}

Reagan's director of the [[United States Office of Personnel Management]] at the time, [[Donald J. Devine]], argued:
{{Quote | When the president said no, American business leaders were given a lesson in managerial leadership that they could not and did not ignore. Many private sector executives have told me that they were able to cut the fat from their organizations and adopt more competitive work practices because of what the government did in those days. I would not be surprised if these unseen effects of this private sector shakeout under the inspiration of the president were as profound in influencing the recovery that occurred as the formal economic and fiscal programs.<ref>{{cite book |first = Donald J. |last = Devine |title = Reagan's Terrible Swift Sword |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ClGHAAAAMAAJ |location = Ottawa, Illinois |publisher = Jameson Books |year = 1991 |page = 84 |isbn = 978-0-89803163-8 }}</ref>}}

In a review of [[Joseph McCartin]]'s 2011 book, ''Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America'' in Review 31, Richard Sharpe stated that Reagan was "laying down a marker" for his presidency: "The strikers were often working-class men and women who had achieved suburban middle class lives as air traffic controllers without having gone to college. Many were veterans of the US armed forces where they had learned their skills; their union had backed Reagan in his election campaign. Nevertheless, Reagan refused to back down. Several strikers were jailed; the union was fined and eventually made bankrupt. Only about 800 got their jobs back when Clinton lifted the ban on rehiring those who went on strike. Many of the strikers were forced into poverty as a result of being blacklisted for [U.S. government] employment."<ref>{{cite web |url = http://review31.co.uk/article/view/23/laying-down-a-marker.htm |title = Laying Down A Marker |first = Richard |last = Sharpe |work = Review 31 }}</ref>

[[Paul Volcker]] called the strike a "watershed" moment in the fight against inflation:
{{Quote | One of the major factors in turning the tide on the inflationary situation was the controllers' strike, because here, for the first time, it wasn't really a fight about wages; it was a fight about working conditions. It was directly a wage problem, but the controllers were government employees, and the government didn't back down. And he stood there and said, "If you're going to go on strike, you're going to lose your job, and we'll make out without you." That had a profound effect on the aggressiveness of labor at that time, in the midst of this inflationary problem and other economic problems. I am told that the administration pretty much took off the shelf plans that had been developed in the Carter administration, but whether the Carter administration ever would [have] done it is the open question. That was something of a watershed.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_paulvolcker.html#6 |title = Commanding Heights, Paul Volcker |publisher = PBS |access-date = June 16, 2021 }}</ref>}}

==Other ATC organizations==
In addition to the [[National Air Traffic Controllers Association]], two organizations now claim the name and part or all of the jurisdiction of the original PATCO: [[Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (AFSCME)]] and [[Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (2003)|Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization]].

== See also ==

* {{annotated link|Labor history of the United States#Reagan era, 1980s}}
* {{annotated link|Skylab 4#The strike or mutiny myth}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |first = Joseph A. |last = McCartin |title = Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike That Changed America |location = New York |publisher = Oxford University Press |year = 2013 }}{{ISBN?}}
* Milkman, Ruth, and Joseph A. McCartin. "The legacy and lessons of the PATCO strike after 30 years: A dialogue." ''Labor History'' 54.2 (2013): 123–137.

* {{cite book |first = Willis J. |last = Nordlund |title = Silent Strikes: The Air Traffic Controllers' Strike |location = Westport, Connecticut |publisher = Praeger |year = 1998 }}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite book |first = Michael |last = Round |title = Grounded: Reagan and the PATCO Crash |location = New York |publisher = Garland Publishing |year = 1999 }}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite book |first1 = Arthur B. |last1 = Shostak |first2 = David |last2 = Skocik |name-list-style = amp |title = The Air Controllers' Controversy: Lessons from the PATCO Strike |location = New York |publisher = Human Sciences Press |year = 1986 }}{{ISBN?}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Ronald Reagan's ultimatum to striking air traffic controllers}}
* [https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-and-question-and-answer-session-reporters-air-traffic-controllers-strike Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike], Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum
* {{cite web |url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/topic-guide/air-traffic-controllers-patco-strike-1981 |title=Air Traffic Controllers' (PATCO) Strike - 1981 |website=Archives ~ Topic Guide |publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum}}
* {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/4732220.1981.001.umich.edu/page/686/ |title=Statement and a Question-and- Answer Session With Reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike - August 3, 1981 |last=Reagan |first=Ronald W. |date=August 3, 1981 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |pages=687–690}}
* {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/4732220.1981.001.umich.edu/page/1148/ |title=Statement on Federal Employment of Discharged Air Traffic Controllers - December 9, 1981 |last=Reagan |first=Ronald W. |date=December 9, 1981 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |pages=1148–1149}}
* {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/4732220.1981.001.umich.edu/page/1149/ |title=Memorandum on Federal Employment of Discharged Air Traffic Controllers - December 9, 1981 |last=Reagan |first=Ronald W. |date=December 9, 1981 |trans-title=Memorandum for the Director of the Office of Personnel Management |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |page=1149}}
* ''Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization v FLRA'', 685 F.2d 547 (U.S. Court of Appeals DC Circuit 1982)
* [http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/PATCO''Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization Records, 1968–1985''], Southern Labor Archives, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
* The Consequences of Reagan Breaking the 1981 Air Traffic Controllers Strike, [http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12195 Part 1] (2014-08-05), [http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12203 Part 2] (2014-08-06). Prof. [[Joseph McCartin]] and former PATCO spokesperson Elliot Simons discuss the anniversary of the firing of the air traffic controllers and why it matters today to workers in the private and public sectors, ''[[The Real News]]''

{{Portal bar|1980s|Organized labour|United States}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1968 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:1981 disestablishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Air traffic control in the United States]]
[[Category:Air traffic controllers' trade unions]]
[[Category:AFL-CIO]]
[[Category:Defunct trade unions in the United States]]
[[Category:History of labor relations in the United States]]
[[Category:Trade unions established in 1968]]
[[Category:Trade unions disestablished in 1981]]