Are There Any Other PATCO 81 Survivors Here?

[MrCoffee]

i wasn't an ATC, but my dad was in the tower at IAH in 1981, and i have vivid memories of going to PATCO events and BBQ's...and that sonofabitch Reagan is still screwing up my family's lives even today.

Anyway, that's when I became a Democrat. Anyone else in here directly affected by it?

[aikoaiko]

1. Who? What? Where? nt

[calico1]

4. PATCO was the Airline traffic

controllers union that Reagan busted up.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. No, but I certainly recall it...

:grr:

[Not Me]

3. My next door neighbor was an atc at the time...

He had three beauthiful little girls. They ended up losing their house and he said he had to use up the money he had saved for their college to get by. He was military-trained air traffic controller...it was his profession. I don't know what he ended up doing after they moved.

[MrCoffee]

7. I know how they feel.

It really screwed us big time when my dad got fired.

[conscious evolution]

5. Not directly.But knew

somepeople who were PATCO.All of them hate reagun with a passion today.
One showed me 'the letter' he wrote in 80.It was one of the reasons I switched partys.

[DURHAM D]

6. It is amazing how few people realize what a dick

Reagan was. Bush 43 is his spawn.

[razors edge]

8. ronnie did what bush told him to. n/t

[MrCoffee]

I loathe Reagan with the heat of a supernova.

I refuse to fly into DC if the plane is landing at National.

[WillyT]

9. We ALL Got Screwed By The PATCO Fight At Some Level !!!

This was a major assault on Labor, from which we have yet to recover.

:shrug:

[MrCoffee]

10. And boy did the union's come rushing in to help the ATC's

:puke:

ETA i don't want to get into a big union brawl. I worked for a labor-side law firm in law school (grievance arbitrations).

I was just wondering if there were any other DUers around directly affected by the strike.

[WillyT]

12. Divide And Conquer Is What The Ruling Class (Republicans) Are All About !!

I'm sure the direct hit was much worse than the diffuse hit, and I'm sorry about that.

Maybe if we win in Nov., we can mobilize the unions to keep the ruling class in check for good.

A guy can hope, can't he?

:shrug:

[MrCoffee]

14. The unions are infinately weaker today than they were 25 years ago

And that is a direct result of Raygun's firing the ATC's. The weakness of the unions makes it harder on every single working American in this country. Where'd the middle class go? Mexico and India and China, along with the factories.

[WillyT]

17. I Agree, That's Why We Need To Reverse It !!!

:shrug:

[pnorman]

20. The irony of that subject line is well merited!

Most of the other unions looked the other way (in the manner of the "neighbors" of Kitty Genovese, so many years ago, and THEY ARE PAYING FOR IT TO THIS DAY! The few others (ILWU & UE come to mind) did not, and not coincidentally, have managed to hold their own against the vicious anti-union attack that followed. Almost all of the others suffered heavily.

Another historical (and ironical) note: PATCO was one of the very few unions that had publicly endorsed Reagan in 1980!

pnorman

[conscious evolution]

11. The more I think about it the more pissed I'm getting.

That son of a bitch fired off the opening salvo in the riechsters war on the working people of this country when he fired the Controllers.So,in a sense,everybody has suffered as a result.
That and the fact that he ordered the military atc to wait 12 hours before taking control of the system in the hopes that an 'incident' would occur so that he could demonize PATCO.Putting Innocent peoples lives at stake for poltical gain is pretty damned sleazy.If not outright criminal

Fuck reagon

[MrCoffee]

13. IMO, Reagun hurt the American people far worse than Chimpy.

But then, I'm fairly biased against that SOB. But the deregulation of markets, destruction of labor, offshoring of capital...you could make a pretty strong case that "Reaganomics" shafted more Americans, harder, than Chimpy could ever dream.

Enron wouldn't have been possible without Reagan. Nor would the Exxon Valdez. And so on, and so on.

[pnorman]

15. A tiny shell of PATCO remains, and is now affiliated with OPEIU.

But they're essentially "history", although NOT in disgrace. Here's their website: http://www.patco81.com/ PATCO was once an affiliate of the union I belong to, and I've followed that sad story very closely over the years.

An interesting note: The "volunteers" who helped break that strike (along with the military) very soon became disenchanted with the same working conditions & safety issues that drove PATCO to that strike (it was NOT about wages!). They soon formed a new union --- NATCA: http://www.natca.org/ that eventually evolved into a very progressive union.

pnorman
On edit: as the other poster stated, those safety issues (work overload to the point where the work performance was seriously degraded) would have a serious effect on the safety of the flying public. They were all dedicated professionals, and ANY loss of life was a deeply personal matter to them.

[MrCoffee]

18. It was NOT about the wages AT ALL!

The ATC's did what they had to in order to protect the public. The working conditions sucked so bad that the lives of passengers were endangered.

I've argued with people about the "greedy ATC's", and it usually takes every fiber of my being not to punch them in the face.

[Nite Owl]

16. I remember when Reagan did

that, it was such a direct affront on unions. I thought he was the absolutely worse President we could ever have until this one. It just so gets to me that he is so revered by Republicans and Democrats alike even today.

[buddhamama]

19. i am not a survivor

but i do remember that time vividly. my Mother was a Union Rep during the Reagan Administration. Her union felt the effects of the Reagan yrs, as all Unions did. Scary times. Other family members were impacted too, by the cuts to the VA. Reagan was an heartless vile man.

[Sherman A1]

22. I recall it as well

It was the not start of the GOP & Corporate War on the Unions, but a major victory for them. Oddly enough just after the PATCO issue, I received a fund raising letter from the GOP. I filled the postage paid envelope with a copy of our local labor news paper and mailed it back to them. It might have cost them a few extra pennies. Up until Mr. Bush arrived on the scene in 2000 I consider Reagan to be the worst President ever, now of course my opinion has changed by this character.

[stuckinlodi]

21. My Dad Was A Supervisor

My dad was a supervisor at the FAA Center in Fremont, CA. He was so demoralized by the PATCO thing he retired.