Solidarity Day March - Events Leading Up To The March

Events Leading Up To The March

On 3 August 1981, 12,500 air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), walked off their jobs with the Federal Aviation Administration. President Ronald Reagan vowed to fire the controllers if they did not return to work within 48 hours. On the first day of the strike 85 percent of union controllers were out. Two days later, Reagan fired the striking controllers -- 12,000 air traffic controllers were fired on August 5.

PATCO were demanding wage increases, safer working conditions, a 32 hour week, and an end to long shift patterns. As federal employees they were, however, barred from striking. The FAA replaced the strikers with non-union workers. According to the union, 481 near misses were reported in the first year of the strike, compared to 10 reported in the 10 years before the walkout. Militants were arrested, jailed and fined. Some PATCO members with federal mortgages lost their homes. The union was fined millions of dollars, and its $3.5 million strike fund was frozen. Eventually, the government succeeded in decertifying PATCO. The president of the US union federation, the AFL-CIO, denounced Reagan's attack on PATCO. But a letter was also sent to AFL-CIO affiliates, discouraging them from taking any type of strike action in solidarity.