Ronald Reagan’s Impact on Labor Unions
One of the most devastating and harmful moments in the history of labor unions was what happened with the PATCO strikes. PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) was a union that formed in the 1970s that attempted to collectively bargain with the employers of air traffic controllers. Joseph McCartin, the author of “Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers and the Strike That Changed America”, explains what the driving factor was that led to the strikes, “The problems they sought to address were many. As I show in the book, they were initially motivated by the desire to make the system safer and to have a voice in policies that would do this — this was something that their employer, the Federal Aviation Administration resisted.” When the federal government refused to listen to PATCO’s requests, this only angered the union, and led to several different types of boycotts. One of these being what are called sickouts, where a bunch of workers all take sick leave at the same time in order to slow down business.
Joseph McCartin describes PATCO as being “the most militant, most densely organized union in any bargaining unit of the nation’s largest employer, the U.S. government.” PATCO was indeed very determined to meet their goals. In 1977, they went so far as to create a strike fund because they were protesting so much. One of the PATCO slogans were, “There are no illegal strikes, just unsuccessful ones,” voicing the idea that if union members came together and fought hard enough, they would win in the end. This idea may have credibility, but unfortunately, at this particular point in history, things were not to PATCO’s advantage.
During this time, the right wing conservatives were set on busting unions, and Democrats were starting to turn their backs on unions as well. Ronald Reagan was about to be elected president in 1980. Weeks before he was elected, he sent the president of PATCO a letter of his support stating 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, of course, gave PATCO hope and they would end up endorsing Ronald Reagan for president of the United States. However, when Reagan was elected, there was a lot of pressure from the right wing to handle the situation with PATCO in a way that would damage labor unions as a whole. On August 3rd, 1981 somewhere between 11,000 and 13,000 air traffic controllers (there are differing documented numbers) walked out of the job and went on strike. President Reagan urged the union members that if they didn’t return to work, they would all be terminated and their union would be busted. On August 5th, 1981, that is exactly what Reagan did. He fired each and every one of the workers that went on strike, and PATCO was eventually busted.
Before this, employers technically weren’t banned from permanently replacing strikers with new employees, otherwise known as scabs. Employers just tended not to do this, more or less because it was generally looked down upon. But when Reagan made the choice to fire and permanently replace all of the air traffic controllers, it prompted many employers to follow suit and to unions being busted, therefore putting workers’ rights in danger. This is when union membership started to decline at an alarming rate. Not only that, but the unemployment rate reached almost 10% after the air traffic controllers were without jobs.
Ever since the outcome of the PATCO strikes, union membership has been steadily declining. Why should we be worried about this, and what can be done to reverse these effects? More in the next blog post.
Sources:
Burns. J. (November 1, 2011). The PATCO Strike, Reagan, and the Roots of Labor’s Decline. Retrieved from: The PATCO Strike, Reagan and the Roots of Labor’s Decline — In These Times
Neidenberg. M. (August 14, 2006). What Can Be Learned From PATCO Strike? Retrieved from: What can be learned from PATCO strike? (workers.org)
