🌊 The Strike that Made Modern America

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By Max Frost

On the morning of August 3, 1981, over 13,000 air traffic controllers walked off the job. It was an act of defiance from the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), a union that had once backed Ronald Reagan for president. Now, just months into his first term, Reagan faced a national crisis: The backbone of American air travel was refusing to work, and they were doing so in violation of federal law.

PATCO's grievances were not new. Amid booming air travel in the 1970s, the airline industry was deregulated in 1978. As air traffic soared, staffing levels didn’t keep pace, leaving air traffic controllers warning of grueling hours, high-stress working conditions, and outdated equipment. Controllers claimed to routinely suffer from stress-related illnesses, including ulcers and high blood pressure. 

The controllers wanted change, and they believed Reagan might be sympathetic. During his 1980 campaign, Reagan had written a letter to PATCO's leadership expressing support for their concerns. “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,” he wrote. 

PATCO took the gesture as a sign of solidarity. When the union broke with tradition and endorsed Reagan, a Republican, over Jimmy Carter, they believed the White House would advance their interests.

But PATCO miscalculated. 

Early in Reagan’s term, negotiations stalled between PATCO and the FAA. Despite federal law prohibiting strikes by federal employees, PATCO called a strike. Their demands were bold: A $10,000 raise, a 32-hour, four-day workweek, and improved retirement benefits. In total, the package would have cost the government $770M.

The strike threatened to bring air travel to a halt, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time: One month prior, interest rates hit an all-time high of 22.36% and the US had entered a recession. 

Reagan decided to break the strike as quickly as possible. 

On August 3 – the day the strike began – Reagan stood in the White House’s Rose Garden and said that the air traffic controllers had given an oath not to strike.

“I respect the right of workers in the private sector to strike. Indeed, as president of my own union [the Screen Actors Guild], I led the first strike ever called by that union,” he said. “But we cannot compare labor-management relations in the private sector with government. Government cannot close down the assembly line. It has to provide without interruption the protective services which are government’s reason for being.”​

He then gave an ultimatum: 

"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." 

The controllers refused to back down.

The stage was thus set for a showdown that has shaped America ever since.

Editor’s Note

Thanks for reading! And don’t forget to email us here with your thoughts on Reagan and the breakdown of PATCO. Do you agree or disagree with Reagan’s ending of the strike, especially given its ripple effects on both the public and private sectors?

And in case you’ve missed our latest stories, find them below:

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Some interesting responses to yesterday’s story on the rise and decline of evangelical power in politics. Here are a couple:

Tony wrote:

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Have a fantastic rest of your weekends!

–Max and Max