ipl-logo

PATCO Union Scenarios

770 Words4 Pages

August 5th, 1981 was a day that should never be forgotten by ATC controllers and labor unions forever. On August 5th President Ronald Reagan made good on his promise to fire and subsequently ban the rehiring of all PATCO Union controllers that were performing an illegal strike from working for the government again. PATCO which represented the majority of U.S. air traffic controllers was attempting to negotiate with the FAA for improvements to their contract. Though it is illegal for federal employees to strike the air traffic controllers should not have been fired and the FAA and federal government should have negotiated in good faith. According to Round (1985) there were many aspects of the contract that PATCO was trying to improve including …show more content…

The package that PATCO was seeking would cost around $770 million dollars. The FAA countered with a package worth $40 million that included a shorter work week and slight pay raises for few controllers. The offer from the FAA was immediately rejected which pressed the controllers to strike. The union was willing to perform an illegal strike. The PATCO thought that they would have an overwhelming public support as the country at the time was tired of big government and the its over the people. PATCO failed to gain public support by having a poor public relations campaign, instead of hearing the poor conditions that the controllers were dealing with the public only heard what the federal government and the FAA were telling them. “The FAA argued that controllers were paid too much, that they worked short hours that automation had made their jobs easier, that there were ready replacements for those who left their jobs, ad infinitum.” (Nordlund, 1998, p. 16) Easily swayed by propaganda from the federal government the public were led to believe that the controllers were a group of overpaid, underworked spoiled employees that thought they were irreplaceable. This lack of sentiment was a large factor leading to the demise of …show more content…

One of the differences was that the controllers union was much smaller and was an easier target for the government to make an example of. With the swift action of President Reagan by firing and banning the striking controllers that did not return to work a precedent had been sent of no tolerance towards illegal strikes. President Reagan was taking a risk in firing the controllers and breaking their union. ”But the risk paid off for Reagan in the short run. He showed federal workers and Soviet leaders alike how though he could be. Although there were 39 illegal work stoppages against the federal government between 1962 and 1981, no significant federal job actions followed Reagan’s firing of the Patco strikers. His forceful handling of the walkout, meanwhile, impressed the Soviets, strengthening his hand in the talks he later pursued with Mikhail S.Gorbachev.” McCartin

Show More
Related
956 Words | 4 Pages

Southam Newspaper Chain, Firestone, and Westinghouse all experienced closures due to striking workers. Yet, it was the Stelco strike which would have the greatest effect. It came to a head on July 10th, when the federal government declared they were taking control of the steel industry and that striking was illegal (p. 46). In response, the steelworkers’ union of Hamilton held a meeting, where they made the decision to strike. Straight from the meeting, they headed to Stelco, rounding up workers of other professions along the way.

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

While Carter worked to remove corporate regulations that hurt laborers and consumers alike, Reagan showed great concern for the economy which trampled over worker and consumer concern. Regan wanted to replace environmental laws and regulations and allow businesses to decide what to do for themselves. Reagan continued to lower corporate taxes, which would ultimately hurt his citizens greatly. An example of this was Social Security cuts. Over three hundred thousand people suffered from Social Security and disability benefits cuts.

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

In the midst of unemployment, unions gained strength. The unions could be seen as a positive impact on society because they showcased people standing up for their rights, however the truth was far from that. The strikes organized by union leaders were violent and unsafe. Protesters blocked trains, burned railcars and set buildings aflame. One man, General Nelson A. Miles sensed that the spreading unrest was, “‘more threatening and far-reaching than anything that had occurred before”’

Read More
640 Words | 3 Pages

Sean Wilentz’s 2008 book The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 is a center-left historical survey of American politics during the time Reagan was a dominant figure. Using archives, carefully checked secondary sources, newspapers, and official government reports and recently available sources from the Reagan and Bush presidential libraries, Wilentz offers a “chronical of American history, focused on political history, after 1974” critical of Reagan’s policies. Wilentz touches on PATCO enough to criticize Reagan for his reaction to the strike and refers to it as part of Reagan’s “assault”. In addition, Wilentz’s criticism of Reagan’s reaction as governor to student protests shows Reagan’s anti-protest ideals.

Read More
1612 Words | 7 Pages

The UAW’s history must be considered to fully understand how the Stand Up Strike of 2023 within the Auto Industry played an effective role in Organized Labor. Since the union has existed for 89 years, there have been numerous contests that defined not only the standards for the millions of auto workers in representation but also its character. The earliest movement occurred when workers at General Motors’ Flint, Michigan plant, instigated the infamous sit-down strikes for six weeks in 1937. This effort led to a reconstruction of the industrial and labor industry where General Motors accepted the United Auto Workers and the single bargaining strategy. In the years following, a workers’ sit-down strike was launched against General Motors again

Read More
1163 Words | 5 Pages

Although some questioned his skills, none questioned his tenacity. During Reagan’s first four months in office, he went on to meet with Congress over seventy times to discuss his military buildup plans and tax and budget cuts (page 110, ibook). On July 29, 1981, Congress passed a series of tax cuts that reduced the federal budget by 25% over three years. Although this seemed like a great start, Reagan did this so he would be able to boost his military spending and that’s exactly what he did. He once said “defense is not a budget item, you spend what you need” (p. 182 ibook).

Read More
634 Words | 3 Pages

Reagan had the tendency to focus only on the “big issues” while the members of his Cabinet handled other matters. I found it intriguing that Reagan spent his presidency practicing a “hands-off management style” (Broussard 111). Reagan would make an executive decision on a matter, while others would put in work gathering information and coming up with policy alternatives. Broussard points out that Reagan’s concern while in office was inflation and “although he did not actually slay the beast…he left it weaker, wounded and far less dangerous” (Broussard 125). However, he also notes that battling inflation resulted in a serious recession and “the worst economic downturn…since the Great Depression of the 1930s” (Broussard 125).

Read More
1873 Words | 8 Pages

In the Taft-Hartley Act, the US Congress demonstrated this by demolishing the rights of worker unions and strikes, giving the employers overwhelming control over the lives of employees. The National Labor Relations Act, or Wagner Act, passed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, previously protected the strikes and collective bargaining of employees and labor unions. However, with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, labor unions were much weaker than before, and many even branded this act as the “slave-labor act.” “To pass the Taft-hartley Act that lifted many of the protections organized labor had enjoyed since the passage of the Wagner Act in the 1930s” (Fraser 754). With the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, many of the rights that protected the rights of workers to collectively bargain with their employers without any risk of losing their jobs and union strikes, were significantly weakened.

Read More
583 Words | 3 Pages

However, economic struggle occurred to due to bad investments and led to the workers’ wages being cut. The following quote is from a letter written by the president of the B & O Company: “WHEREAS The depression in the general business interests of the country continues…RESOLVED That a reduction of ten per cent, be made in the present compensation of officers and employees, of every grade.” The president of this company is cutting the wages of the workers due to the economic struggles of the country. This act caused tensions between workers and the owners of capital (president of company). The workers then went on strike: “It is impossible for the company to move any freight trains because of the open intimidation of the strikers and the attacks that they have made.”

Read More
408 Words | 2 Pages

A series of failed strikes, the American posture of workers inferiority and the regime passive rate all contributed to this kineticism lack of

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

The ability of unions to rapidly expand amidst crises like the Great Depression provides "important historical background on the relationships of power between labor, the state, and the economy. " Just as legislative changes enabled 1930s activism by reforming anti-union policies, so too have modern reforms enabled tactics like unionization efforts at major companies today. And mirroring how economic desperation drove militancy before New Deal relief, recent strikes have emerged from frustrations over stagnant wages and pandemic

Read More
1380 Words | 6 Pages

On May 11, 1894 a widespread strike lead by railroad workers brought business to a complete cessation; only willing to discontinue until the federal government took unprecedented action to end the strike. The Pullman Strike began “as a peaceful labor protest against a single Chicago employer (54)”, and later ended up “into a national labor boycott of more than twenty railroads and then into a violent confrontation between the federal government, the railroad companies, and American workers (55.)” With the “mix of employer resistance, government aggression, worker bitterness, and general economic desperation (54)”, the Pullman Strike presented questions towards the “rights of employers and workers in an industrialized democracy and about the role

Read More
533 Words | 3 Pages

In 1984, Reagan decided to run for a second term and won 49 of 50 states with the most popular vote. In 1986, President Reagan signed a bill on the ‘War on Drugs’ which basically gave people with drug offenses the most minimum amount of time they could serve. Although Reagan claimed to have been against drug use and done many things to provide awareness, but many believe he did that for his image and basically let drug lords in and out of the country for the money. In 1986, the President signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act that would make it illegal for anyone to knowingly hire an illegal immigrant. This did not affect the country at

Read More
581 Words | 3 Pages

Rough Draft # 3 In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, passage 2.2 12-93 is significant because of the use of the theme topics guilt, good vs evil and Lady Macbeth’s dominant character. Specifically, the passage is significant because of the use of the theme topic guild that creates culpability between characters throughout the scene.

Read More
596 Words | 3 Pages

For most people in Western culture, there are reasons for comparing culture with drama— our social behaviour includes numerous aspects such as scenes, characters, roles, dialogues, conflicts etc. that is also present in theatre (Vosu, 2010: online). There is always something drama-like in human social behaviour and, in turn, theatre resembles our real lives, since they represent it in one way or the other (Turner, 1990: 13). By studying theatre performances, we can then inspect the ways humans and societies have been represented, but also what these people, their knowledge, values and relations to the society have been like. Theatre analogy therefore functions in both ways — by examining theatre-like situations in social life we get to know

Read More

More about PATCO Union Scenarios

Related Topics

Open Document