No there were no faulty negotiations involved that led to the strike. The main cause of the strike was stormy relations between PATCO AND FAA. It was observed from the beginning that PATCO –Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization which was established in 1968 as a “professional society” of federal air traffic controllers had stormy relations form the beginning with FAA –Federal Aviation Administration.In two years PATCO staged a sick out and FAA responded by cancelling the organizations dues check off system.
The categorized relation between PATCO –FAA labor was even termed as “the worst in the federal sector” which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of transportation (DOT). Their relation even got worse when on March 25, 1970, PATCO called its first nationwide job action –a sick out which lasted for three weeks.
This was mainly caused by FAA transferring four of PATCO’S members who were engaged in organizing efforts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and as result was considered a very serious mistake by PATCO. The end result of this was a result in union membership decline from more than 7,500 to less than 3,000 and near bankruptcy from a $100 million damage suit brought by the airlines (Kearney 245).
The Opinion of the Public and their Role
The public opinion played a role by 1st declining union membership which resulted in decline from more than 7,500 to less than 3,000 and caused near bankruptcy of $100 million damage suit brought by the airlines.
Public opinion also played a role when seventy five percent voted for a walk out form accumulating bitterness from hostile contract negotiations and waves of grievance filed under the various written agreements came to a head as the last contract expired in march 1981 and negotiations over a new contract reached an impasse.
The dispute involved PATCO’S demands concerning salaries, work hours, retirement programs, and other benefits which were to be granted, would require special treatment of the controllers somewhat similar to that accorded postal workers and when PATCO president Robert Poli polled his membership on whether to go out on strike the seventy five percent voted for a walk out and when he submitted the FAA’S last best offer to the rank and file, they rejected the package by a 20-to-1 margin.
Poli’s Different Approach
If Robert Poli had exercised hindsight he would have played his cards differently since he would read the public reactions to the strike and reacted to their demands. Secondly he should have publicized legitimate grievances including congested airways and would have expanded them which would as a result accommodate more flights and more jobs.
He could have also ensured that the flight controllers would be less strained and overworked by adding more staff onto the board and most of all improves on the technology at the control centre.
PATCO did not anticipate the strong the Reagan administration reaction to the strike and the government’s determination to ‘stick to its guns and as the as the chairman he should be able to come to terms to with the president regarding the country’s issues. Finally as the PATCO chairman he should have garnered support of other federal and private sector unions prior to the strike.
President Reagan’s Reaction to the Strike
President Reagan reacted so strongly to the air controller strike because he considered it a violation of several federal laws and their oath of office. This is even despite JF the controllers who thought that the president, a former head of the screen actors Guild and whom PATCO had endorsed for president would be sympathetic to their cause and in this they were sadly and fatally mistaken.
Reagan even went ahead and labeled them as “lawbreakers” and sought the imprisonment of strike leaders, and summarily dismissed from federal service all the strikers who refused to return to work within 48 hours. On top of that a federal judge also supported the president by imposing accelerating fines on the union that would total $1 million per day within 3 days.
To make matters worse if PATCO leaders were counting on public sympathy for the controllers to help encourage the FAA and the Reagan administration to compromise or back down, they were wrong again. His strong reaction was further demonstrated when he and the DOT secretary Drew Lewis declared the strike over because all strikers had been fired.
Role that could have been Played by Subsequent Presidents
Subsequent Presidents like (Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) might have handled the events differently from Reagan by reconciling the two organizations to work together and resolve the long stormy relations. This would have been able to solve the strategic errors of PATCO, unlike Reagan who ignored the public outcry and termed the strikers as offenders.
These two unions would then at the top of their agenda, work to accomplish their functions in fulfilling their duties to the public. They would also ensure that the airways are expanded to be able to accommodate more flights and as a result absorb more people into the industry as employees.
They would also ensure that the two bodies if they were incompetent would be dissolved and new ones formed which would work for the best of the national interest and not always in wrangles which would as result receive less public outcry. They should have also ensured that ensured that their international relations with other countries was not strained which would end up making flights in countries like Canada and Portugal and other international countries end up cancelling operation of flights in those countries.
They should also handle the situation in a manner that they enable organized labor in the United States which would not end up doing stuff like abandoning the strike controllers and as a solution be able to hear out their pleas and solve their issues. This would ensure that domestic union support will be stronger and would have not been brought to financial disaster that increased pressure on the administration settlements that was there previously when Reagan was the president.
Work Cited
Kearney, Richard. Public Administration: Labor Relations in the Public Sector. 4th ed. California: CRC Press, 2008.