Unhappy Again: The air controllers reorganize

No labor conflict in recent years ended more dramatically than the collision between Ronald Reagan and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. Two days after PATCO’s illegal Aug. 3, 1981, walkout over pay scales, benefits and working conditions, an angry President ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to fire 11,345 strikers and hire replacements. Only about 500 PATCO members were rehired; the rest are permanently blackballed.

Last week the 13,000 controllers currently on the job were trying to organize. At a founding convention in Chicago, a new organization known as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association announced that it intends to win certification as a bargaining unit. The association declared that it had collected 4,200 signatures, or the 30% of its potential membership necessary to petition for certification, and would be filing the pertinent documents with federal labor-relations authorities within a month. The aspiring union, though, has openly declared that it will not use PATCO’s methods to obtain any future bargaining demands. Said John Thornton, NATCA’s national coordinator: “Our constitution pledges us to use lawful means only. We will work within the system.” By law, federal employees are not allowed to strike or engage in labor slowdowns. Added Thornton: “Our rhetoric will be moderate. We are hopeful of achieving a better working relationship through cooperation instead of confrontation.”

The controllers are unhappy, but pay is not a serious grievance. A fully rated controller at a busy airport can make between $45,000 and $60,000. Even so, says Thornton, “the problems of the past persist: overwork, old equipment, high stress. A union is more necessary than ever.”

Controllers, even more than passengers, are feeling the effects of a record summer for domestic travel. NATCA claims that only about 62% of current controllers are fully qualified for all situations compared with about 80% of those employed before the strike. The FAA says 72% of the current controllers are fully qualified. NATCA also complains that many controllers regularly work six-day weeks without relief. Says Thornton: “They also put in too much time on a position without relief. Before the strike a controller typically worked a position two hours, then got either a break or a transfer to a less demanding job. Today controllers remain on a busy position up to five hours.” NATCA organizers point to a record 777 reported near misses in the air last year as evidence that the traffic-control system is under severe stress.

The FAA, which is required by law to be neutral on the subject of an employees’ union, has refrained from commenting on the NATCA organizing effort.