Thread by @ErikLoomis

This Day in Labor History: August 3, 1981. The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) goes on strike in the single greatest disaster in American labor history after Reagan fires them all. Let's talk about this horror show.

This is going to be a long thread. So let's start with the summary. Reagan is evil. But PATCO really dug their own grave here. This was a complex situation, but the union deserves LOTS of blame. Why? They had no interest in solidarity with other unions. Or anyone.

Second, if you really want to know all the in and outs of the PATCO strike, you simply have to read @JosephMcCartin's great book Collision Course. Most of what I draw on here--and in Chapter 9 of A History of America in Ten Strikes--comes from this.

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@JosephMcCartin OK, let's get to it. The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association was founded in 1968 and quickly proved to be an important and active trade union of public sector employees.

@JosephMcCartin This was a period of rapid growth for public sector unions, reaching nearly 40% of public workers by 1980. The air traffic controllers were mostly working-class people who had acquired their skill in the military.

@JosephMcCartin For them, the union meant a middle-class lifestyle without attending college. These people were living the idealized American Dream, the one that encourages us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

@JosephMcCartin But of course, the employers don’t really want people to follow through on that mythology en masse, for doing so means understanding the need to wrest power from the bosses.

@JosephMcCartin Being an air traffic controller was an incredibly hard and stressful job. The FAA underfunded the agency. Thousands of lives were in these workers' hands every single day. The stress led to drinking and other unhealthy behavior.

@JosephMcCartin Plus, the FAA ran its operation like a military structure. But by the late 60s, the controllers, many of whom were returning from Vietnam, had no interest in being ordered around like they were still in the military. Huge cultural issues in the agency.

@JosephMcCartin In 1966, controllers slowed down air traffic in a work-to-rule operation, meaning they followed the FAA air manual to a T, instead of breaking the rules as their bosses demanded. This worked. Making an alliance with F. Lee Bailey, the formed PATCO in 1968.

@JosephMcCartin The new union soon showed expressed its power. Later that year, PATCO organized “Operation Air Safety,” a national slowdown that again slowed down air traffic by strictly following FAA rules. Delayed flyers deluged Congress with angry calls.

@JosephMcCartin It worked. PATCO won automatic union dues deducted from paychecks and they convinced President Johnson to sign a bill exempting controllers from restrictions on overtime pay

@JosephMcCartin A sickout strike in 1970 led the FAA to fire many of the controllers. But Nixon hired them back to court union support for 1972. Eighty-four percent of the air traffic controllers voted in September 1972 to grant PATCO exclusive bargaining rights for them.

@JosephMcCartin After 1972, PATCO became a strongly militant union. In 1977, it threatened to shut down the airlines over Thanksgiving to win a better contract. The public was furious. Unfortunately, this was too typical of the union, indifferent to how its actions affected others.

@JosephMcCartin The union developed an atrocious relationship with Jimmy Carter. Moreover, an increasingly militant membership accused its leadership of selling them out, even though they were quite aggressive.

@JosephMcCartin In 1980, a democratic movement in the union created new leadership. Unfortunately, said leadership led PATCO into the abyss. Hyper-democracy in unions is not always a great thing!

@JosephMcCartin Moreover, PATCO had a strongly racist and sexist internal union culture. Black and female workers felt isolated and were largely not active participants in the union.

@JosephMcCartin So it made sense for PATCO to endorse Ronald Reagan in 1980. Other than on labor issues, many of the members were quite politically conservative. Certainly Reagan's racism did not bother them. And Reagan had been a union head, long ago.

@JosephMcCartin Now, Reagan had not busted public sector unions as governor of California. Public sector unions had illegally struck nearly 100 times between 1970 and 1974 and he had taken no action against them. PATCO figured he would be OK with their upcoming strike.

@JosephMcCartin PATCO demands in 1981 were not overly unreasonable. But they were not in a mood to compromise. When Reagan only offered a very good package instead of everything they wanted, they chose to strike. This was the militant democratic unionism of the org in action. But--whoops!

@JosephMcCartin Reagan of course was not pro-labor. He had already slashed OSHA budgets and turned the NLRB to the right. And PATCO had a strong chip--without them, how would the nation fly safely? But the FAA had prepared for this for years.

@JosephMcCartin Moreover, the other airline unions were furious at PATCO. This affected them, but PATCO was indifferent. The AFL-CIO told them this was a very bad idea. They did not listen. One of the union's demands was free international flights. This was not going to go over well publicly.

@JosephMcCartin Reagan was coming off the assassination attempt. He was going to look tough. He saw PATCO as breaking the law--of course they were--and he was a law and order guy. So he fired them all if they didn't come back to work. They were shellshocked.

@JosephMcCartin Said striker James Stakem, "When I was a marine in Vietnam. I was sure of what I was doing, I believed in being there. I wouldn't have listened to Ho Chi Minh then, and I won't listen to Ronald Reagan now."

@JosephMcCartin In the words of Minneapolis controller Ray Carver, “Fuck the president. We’ve done it. Let’s stand by it. Let’s see what the outcome is. If they can make her float, let her float."

@JosephMcCartin The AFL-CIO quickly distanced itself from PATCO. Said UAW president Doug Fraser, “This could do massive damage to the labor movement." Yep! Sure did. I guess the AFL-CIO could have gone out on strike with them--but why? What had PATCO done for any other union? Endorse Reagan?

@JosephMcCartin Take the pilots: ALPA members viewed the shutdown of the air as a threat to their own livelihood. In fact, when ALPA president J.J. O’Donnell later called for the government to rehire the fired strikers, the pilots were so angry that they voted him out of office.

@JosephMcCartin Air traffic only fell by about 50%. The government took chances that compromised safety--but in fact there were no accidents. Reagan didn't have to fire all 11,345 strikers. But his move was very popular--including with other union members. Not all of course. But many.

@JosephMcCartin PATCO was dead by October 1981. Clinton eventually brought some back to government employment, but that was a long time later. What a total disaster. The nation entered total war on organized labor, soon replicated in the private sector. Strikes plummeted nationally after 1981.

@JosephMcCartin Now, I'm certainly not saying that without Reagan firing the controllers, our history is that different. We were entering an anti-union period anyway. But there's no question is a singular turning point that resonates today.

@JosephMcCartin But as far as evaluating the situation--this is one where everyone looks back. Reagan is of course terrible. But PATCO acted irresponsibly and terribly. Yeah, the Kirkland-era AFL-CIO was pretty disastrous, but people saying it should have shut down the nation over this....well..

@JosephMcCartin That the controllers were doing all this at a moment when the private sector economy was plummeting for workers also showed political boneheadedness. Caused huge resentment toward government workers. Tens of thousands of applicants to replace the fired controllers.

@JosephMcCartin However--this is 38 years ago! That's a long time! Today, the economy fails both private and public sector workers! That's a big reason why the teachers strikes have been so successful and that the threat of a general strike by @FlyingWithSara and other government unions worked!

@JosephMcCartin @FlyingWithSara All workers are suffering today. There's a new period of potential for solidarity. Yes, government worker strikes are still often illegal. But who is going to apply for those positions that don't pay well? We are a long ways from 1981. Let's not overlearn the lessons of PATCO.

@JosephMcCartin @FlyingWithSara OK, I think that's enough. My apologies to @JosephMcCartin for tagging him through this thread and clogging his mentions. I can't figure out how to detach people from threads with the new Twitter. Or I am just too dumb to be online. Quite possible. Anyway, buy his book.

@JosephMcCartin @FlyingWithSara And of course, if I got anything wrong here--believe him instead.

@JosephMcCartin @FlyingWithSara August 3 is also the anniversary of the Wheatland Riot, one of many murderous actions against IWW organizers and any farmworker organizing in the early 20th century.

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@JosephMcCartin @FlyingWithSara Back tomorrow to discuss the Bracero Program