August 1981 - August 3, 1981 (Monday)

August 3, 1981 (Monday)

  • The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike at 7:00 am Eastern Time. The union's demand was for each employee to have a $10,000 annual wage increase, a 32 hour workweek and increased benefits. President Reagan, citing the law that prohibited federal government employees from striking, ordered walkouts to return before 11:00 am EST Wednesday or be fired. Of the 16,395 Americans who guided airplane takeoffs and landings, 4,199 stayed on the job. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) responded by using a central control station to send clearances to the nation's airports, which operated at 50% capacity.

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Famous quotes containing the word august:

    “Until, on Vinegar Hill, the fatal conclave.
    Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
    The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
    They buried us without shroud or coffin
    And in August the barley grew up out of the grave.”
    —Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)