My parents were both fired in this strike. Afterwards other countries who were desperate for controllers made offers to hire controllers so they moved to australia with a handful of others. All but my parents eventually went back to the US or moved on to other countries but they stayed.
Thank you for creating this important message. My dad was a Controller at Chicago ARTCC 301 until the 1981 strike. I was 8 year old at the time but the affects of this event impacted my family for years to come and I believe is a factor in my fathers premature death at age 47 due to the stresses of that job and the subsequent work that he had to take on following the end of his Air Traffic career. He was an USAF controller in Thailand during Vietnam from 1968 - 1976 prior to joining the FAA.
Hi Gregory! I'm so sorry to hear about your father's passing before his time. It really shows the toll that the job took on so many of these controllers and helps give context to why they were willing to risk it all for better conditions.
How in the world does this not have 000’s of views? I’m a regular consumer of historical longer form and this is as good if not better than anything else on YT! Well done
I as a kid actually participated in the strike holding signs out in front of the regional airport. After it was all over, my dad went on to do what he always dreamed of doing... woodworking... and established a huge pole barn cabinet shop. When that one burned down, he rebuilt it in steel and replaced every piece of woodworking equipment in there. He's dead now, but when I walk into his shop, it's like walking into a church... how could one person...build something so huge. I stored my three antique highly collectible ultralight airplanes in there where they collect dust. The funny thing was at one time I guess after 1993 for a bit he was hired back to the same airport to mow the runway grass... and later, took a brief job as a rural mail carrier. I found his pilot log book the other day by accident from the 1960's... I was like... wow. My dad died of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes probably as a way to calm himself from the stress of the job. I would not be surprised if they all didn't smoke in the tower whether it was against regulations or not. If not, then certainly down below outside the door on smoke breaks. He had been int he marines, and him and the other marine air traffic controller ended up founding the local EAA club. I moved on to fly quadcopters... which is like riding a pillow of air... or balancing a basketball on your finger tip. I'm now the best proximity aerobatic dance pilot in the world.... how do I know this...? I invented the category. True story. My mom worked at retail all those years which carried us through... she ended up quite by absolute random accident being unowingly even more of a footnote in aviation history... as having sold the luggage to the 9 11 hijackers... the same suitcase that got put on the wrong plane, and then was used to crack the case from all the credit card receipts found inside. My mom, who lives the most quiet field mouse life ever lo. I remember her telling em to look what was going on on the TV that morning as they played the reruns of airplanes hitting the towers, while she went about her business int eh kitchen. And I thought "CIA bay of pigs false flag operation and "Bladerunner!" lol... not knowing my mom had sold the mastermind two suitcases adn thought he was a real quiet soft spoken guy. His compatriot was kind of a d1ck though. My grandfather was a fighter pilot in WW2 and I never knew it until after my grandmoterh died.. he never talked about it to the grand kids or said anything about it. 171 missions. You can watch his interview here on RUclips. Blue 2 P-38 / P-47 / P-39 pilot.
I wish my gdad and granddad had lived long enough to see me fly. They would be like holy SHT! :) I did help my grandfather duplicate DVDs fo his itnerview, and my dad did get to watch me strip off the paint and refurbish my first airplane I bought off of ebay for $38, designed by VOlmer Jensen, the same guy that designed the Starship Enterprise for Star Trek. I still got unused PATCO window decal stickers somewhere... and his slide rule B6E or whatever wind drift flight computer. I got to go up in the tower once or twice when he was off shift and we were visiting. I remember him telling me on one of those visits whenever there was an earth quake tremor the whole tower would sway...
@@zacksexplainersdude how the fuck hasn't your channel blown up yet? I just searched patco because someone mentioned it in another comment about Reagan and I never heard of it so I searched it and your video was one of the first that seemed relevant because all the other videos before yours were about a train or something. although I usually don't click on videos with a lower view count because usually that means they're crappy and not worth watching or has some annoying AI voice but this video was really well produced. and a year later after making this you still only have less than 500 subs? how can that be?! you have great content from what I've seen so far I wish you a lot more success because you fucking deserve it
@@skeetrix5577 thanks man! It’s probably because I just don’t post enough content, mostly due to the intense time commitment explainer videos like these demand. Add in a day job as well as other commitments and it doesn’t leave enough time to provide a steady stream of the type of videos I want to make. Good thing I mostly make these for fun and to improve my technical skills. I really appreciate the kind words!
The implication that steelworkers are unskilled was a little off putting. I'd suggest that that person walk them out on the still workers boots before they make such paltry remarks.
The word "steelworker" by definition implies knowledge of the trade/craft, thereby making it skilled labor. I extend grace to the author, but the point is that words have meanings and connotations carry weight as well.@@JediOfTheRepublic
And also most of the working public. They bought the bovine backwash that the air traffic controllers were spoiled overpaid federal employees which was not true at all. PATCO had many valid concerns but they played the odds wrong.
great video and summary of the topic. though i'm amazed there isn't a major feature film or even documentary on such an important moment in American labor history, and American history in general. the patco strike seems strangely neglected for such a seminal event
I knew a guy from my town who did not strike. He and a couple of other guys lived up in the control tower for several days Fearing retribution from his fellow striking members. He told me that he only had a few years to retirement And there was no way on God's green earth he was Going to do what he didn't think was right Let alone jeopardize his full retirement. He admitted that being an ATC could be very stressful at times But over all, it wasn't that bad! I don't blame him And I bet the few that remained on the job Were guys that were near retirement.
The subsequent 40 years of low inflation after that was on the back of labor and increased automation. PATCO made Volcker's job of reducing inflation a lot easier. 2% mortgages of pre-2022 would not be possible with wage inflation like we have now in 2023 and 2024. I'm really glad to see much better union leadership utilizing strategies like CHAOS and the UAW's Shawn Fain targeting specific plants rather than a general strike. We just had a 3 day general strike and management offered nothing extra and promised the union they would not reimburse for the unpaid days from strike. Today the smart strategy is to get maximum pain from daily rotating strikes. Every day would have pain without management's ability to cover with scabs. Nobody can stay out for years like Eastern Airlines mechanics. That's a near certain road to poverty for strikers.
There has never been a "basic human right" for controllers to strike. They did have a basic right to resign, however, and if they really were "principled," they would have. Their sense of self-importance was inflated and misplaced. It was like a mass psychosis, lemmings off a cliff. Among the most important of several factors they failed to take into account is that Federal bureaucracies are appallingly bloated. There were so many qualified controllers tucked away in offices, performing "administrative duties," pushing papers in an effort to move up the management ladder that, when they came out of the woodwork, and everyone was scheduled an extra day per week of overtime, there was something very close to a full workforce. Not only that, but without all the procedural red tape generated by those office jobs, necessary critical procedural changes were accomplished in record time. The tensions between management and the workforce disappeared as supervisors donned their headsets to control airplanes (non-striking controllers, who were grown-ups after all, successfully supervised themselves), and, though it eroded over time, there was an exhilarating camaraderie in the control facilities, and a great sense of everyone working together toward a common goal: to keep the public flying safely. It was the best of times.
purely from an economic standpoint - it could be argued that reagan's decision greatly emboldened businesses to take measures to improve labor efficiency, and this improved productivity helped power the significant US economic growth of the 80's and 90's
Why? This decreased the costs of ATC and all the people who were fired had an opportunity to not lose their jobs (which clearly weren't necessary anyways). He gave them a deal and they chose to FAFO instead. Government isn't a jobs program
Best thing Reagan ever did! It showed America that Reagan meant business. The Soviets learned that this guy wasn't a weak Jimmy Carter. Reagan stood up for what he believed in. Reagan himself was union leader, but he knew that the air traffic controllers were breaking the law by going on strike, since they were government employees. Reagan gave the ATC's an ultimatum go back to work or we fire you. He kept his word and did what he said he would. I'm not against union, but when unions make ridiculous demands, they lose all sympathy. Just look at the UAW last few days demanding a 46% increase in pay and the workweek cut from 40 hours to 32. Makes me buy a Toyota
@@WilliamM-e6n modern organized labour did very little for American worker. Many unions were and are run by the Mafia. I'm also not suggesting that every union is bad. However nevertheless if you have a union like the UAW, who thinks 40% pay raises are realistic, you just got to shake your head. GM and Chrysler bankrupt and Ford came close. The strike at International Harvester put this company into bankruptcy. Workers at Honda and Toyota are just doing fine without a union.
The strike was illegal, period. Regan had every right to fire them. Those are the facts. Being an Air Traffic Controllers is very stressful. Ronny did have a lasting effect on the federal employee retirement system for the worst possible effect. And the feds wonder why they can't hire and keep employees. The older federal retirement system, CSRS, verses FERS , the current system is not as good.
They got what they asked for and then got greedy and demanded hundreds of millions more after! They broke the law. He gave them a chance and they tried to call his bluff and he fired them. Plain and simple. He gave them 48 hours......more than I would have given that's for sure
He did have sympathy. He gave them a warning. They could go on to find other jobs. Did you feel bad for the workers who got fired over the covid vaccine?
I'm sorry. Were all of those air traffic controllers forced into that profession? I was under the impression that these employees got their jobs through their own voluntary action by means of a fair and free market. I wrongly figured they were allowed to quit their position at any time in search of a different career. How could I be so stupid?!
@Fiddle Pants no they weren’t forced into that profession. But they were forced out by an overzealous president that seems to believe the collective bargaining is not a fundamental to American liberty. But then again you believe in the fairytale of the “fair” and “free market”, so I can’t really blame you for not being able to understand this distinction.
@@theQuestion626 36 hour work week and 5% pay raise seems pretty reasonable to me. Yes some people are delusional about the exaggerated concept of the fair and free market, but a lot of union workers become equally delusional and entitled over the smallest of things. Collective BARGAINING is the term, meaning that there is compromise. It doesn’t mean that the union gets everything they ask for.
@@theQuestion626 He did give them a compromise. They didn’t want to take it, so he fired them. If he didn’t believe in compromising, he wouldn’t have offered them anything. Right or wrong, he was willing to bargain with them at least a little bit. Anyhow, like I said, it seemed reasonable to offer a 36 hour work week as opposed to what they were getting before negotiations.
@@theQuestion626 The compromise was that he would pardon the strikers and give all of them their jobs back after the strike if they stopped striking immediately. Remember it was against the law to strike, so they forfeited their jobs the moment they did so. Reagan actually tried to help get them their jobs back
![Eminem - Fuel (feat. JID) [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5H_CewqpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
My parents were both fired in this strike. Afterwards other countries who were desperate for controllers made offers to hire controllers so they moved to australia with a handful of others. All but my parents eventually went back to the US or moved on to other countries but they stayed.
Thank you for creating this important message. My dad was a Controller at Chicago ARTCC 301 until the 1981 strike. I was 8 year old at the time but the affects of this event impacted my family for years to come and I believe is a factor in my fathers premature death at age 47 due to the stresses of that job and the subsequent work that he had to take on following the end of his Air Traffic career. He was an USAF controller in Thailand during Vietnam from 1968 - 1976 prior to joining the FAA.
Hi Gregory! I'm so sorry to hear about your father's passing before his time. It really shows the toll that the job took on so many of these controllers and helps give context to why they were willing to risk it all for better conditions.
How in the world does this not have 000’s of views? I’m a regular consumer of historical longer form and this is as good if not better than anything else on YT!
Well done
Thanks so much!
I as a kid actually participated in the strike holding signs out in front of the regional airport. After it was all over, my dad went on to do what he always dreamed of doing... woodworking... and established a huge pole barn cabinet shop. When that one burned down, he rebuilt it in steel and replaced every piece of woodworking equipment in there. He's dead now, but when I walk into his shop, it's like walking into a church... how could one person...build something so huge. I stored my three antique highly collectible ultralight airplanes in there where they collect dust.
The funny thing was at one time I guess after 1993 for a bit he was hired back to the same airport to mow the runway grass... and later, took a brief job as a rural mail carrier.
I found his pilot log book the other day by accident from the 1960's... I was like... wow.
My dad died of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes probably as a way to calm himself from the stress of the job. I would not be surprised if they all didn't smoke in the tower whether it was against regulations or not. If not, then certainly down below outside the door on smoke breaks. He had been int he marines, and him and the other marine air traffic controller ended up founding the local EAA club.
I moved on to fly quadcopters... which is like riding a pillow of air... or balancing a basketball on your finger tip.
I'm now the best proximity aerobatic dance pilot in the world.... how do I know this...? I invented the category.
True story.
My mom worked at retail all those years which carried us through... she ended up quite by absolute random accident being unowingly even more of a footnote in aviation history... as having sold the luggage to the 9 11 hijackers... the same suitcase that got put on the wrong plane, and then was used to crack the case from all the credit card receipts found inside. My mom, who lives the most quiet field mouse life ever lo.
I remember her telling em to look what was going on on the TV that morning as they played the reruns of airplanes hitting the towers, while she went about her business int eh kitchen. And I thought "CIA bay of pigs false flag operation and "Bladerunner!" lol... not knowing my mom had sold the mastermind two suitcases adn thought he was a real quiet soft spoken guy. His compatriot was kind of a d1ck though.
My grandfather was a fighter pilot in WW2 and I never knew it until after my grandmoterh died.. he never talked about it to the grand kids or said anything about it. 171 missions. You can watch his interview here on RUclips. Blue 2 P-38 / P-47 / P-39 pilot.
I wish my gdad and granddad had lived long enough to see me fly. They would be like holy SHT! :)
I did help my grandfather duplicate DVDs fo his itnerview, and my dad did get to watch me strip off the paint and refurbish my first airplane I bought off of ebay for $38, designed by VOlmer Jensen, the same guy that designed the Starship Enterprise for Star Trek.
I still got unused PATCO window decal stickers somewhere... and his slide rule B6E or whatever wind drift flight computer.
I got to go up in the tower once or twice when he was off shift and we were visiting. I remember him telling me on one of those visits whenever there was an earth quake tremor the whole tower would sway...
interesting!
@@zacksexplainersdude how the fuck hasn't your channel blown up yet? I just searched patco because someone mentioned it in another comment about Reagan and I never heard of it so I searched it and your video was one of the first that seemed relevant because all the other videos before yours were about a train or something. although I usually don't click on videos with a lower view count because usually that means they're crappy and not worth watching or has some annoying AI voice but this video was really well produced. and a year later after making this you still only have less than 500 subs? how can that be?! you have great content from what I've seen so far I wish you a lot more success because you fucking deserve it
@@skeetrix5577 thanks man! It’s probably because I just don’t post enough content, mostly due to the intense time commitment explainer videos like these demand. Add in a day job as well as other commitments and it doesn’t leave enough time to provide a steady stream of the type of videos I want to make. Good thing I mostly make these for fun and to improve my technical skills. I really appreciate the kind words!
I did too! My dad was ATC and PATCO
The implication that steelworkers are unskilled was a little off putting. I'd suggest that that person walk them out on the still workers boots before they make such paltry remarks.
Yes I thought that was bad. It's very uninformed.
Unskilled in terms of Blue Collar Work. Not everything is a jab
The word "steelworker" by definition implies knowledge of the trade/craft, thereby making it skilled labor. I extend grace to the author, but the point is that words have meanings and connotations carry weight as well.@@JediOfTheRepublic
what a great video , really high quality.
don't know why this doesn't have more views
Loved this, Great work! I hope your channel gets more attention.
Great video. It’s crazy how federal employees don’t the right to strike. Air traffic controllers staffing still haven’t fully recovered
Said a poor unemploymed air traffic controllers
@@ዋሰ lol well said. looking back now with the benefit of hindsight, reagan's decision was the right one.
Really helped me write my research paper on the PATCO strike. Great vid.
Love hearing that. Good luck on the paper!
Fantastic summary of the PATCO strike. Subscribed
The other unions threw PATCO under the bus. They didn't see that the bus was bearing right down on them as well.
And also most of the working public. They bought the bovine backwash that the air traffic controllers were spoiled overpaid federal employees which was not true at all.
PATCO had many valid concerns but they played the odds wrong.
This is a great channel so glad I’ve found this, will be binging your videos!
What a great video on a topic no one covers! thanks!
great video and summary of the topic.
though i'm amazed there isn't a major feature film or even documentary on such an important moment in American labor history, and American history in general. the patco strike seems strangely neglected for such a seminal event
The strongest power of the worker is self determination
The AFL-CIO stabbed PATCO in the back. Don't blame it all on Reagan.
This video is very underrated
Great great content!!! Keep it up and the the views will roll in.
Solid video!
Thanks Jay!
I knew a guy from my town who did not strike.
He and a couple of other guys lived up in the control tower for several days
Fearing retribution from his fellow striking members.
He told me that he only had a few years to retirement
And there was no way on God's green earth he was
Going to do what he didn't think was right
Let alone jeopardize his full retirement.
He admitted that being an ATC could be very stressful at times
But over all, it wasn't that bad!
I don't blame him
And I bet the few that remained on the job
Were guys that were near retirement.
Amazing video!
The subsequent 40 years of low inflation after that was on the back of labor and increased automation. PATCO made Volcker's job of reducing inflation a lot easier.
2% mortgages of pre-2022 would not be possible with wage inflation like we have now in 2023 and 2024.
I'm really glad to see much better union leadership utilizing strategies like CHAOS and the UAW's Shawn Fain targeting specific plants rather than a general strike. We just had a 3 day general strike and management offered nothing extra and promised the union they would not reimburse for the unpaid days from strike. Today the smart strategy is to get maximum pain from daily rotating strikes. Every day would have pain without management's ability to cover with scabs. Nobody can stay out for years like Eastern Airlines mechanics. That's a near certain road to poverty for strikers.
History repeats.
Air traffic control provide separation services on IFR/IFR flights, VFR Traffic advisories on a work load permitting basis, safety alerts
There are jobs more important than union. I think the lesson was learned.
This broke my heart
President Reagan really did the right thing, he should have been given a medail for that.
Why do the Poor keep voting against there best interest?
Brainwashed republicanism
Probably because being poor can coincide with less education
@@mrbigstufable y ou never left the plantation
There has never been a "basic human right" for controllers to strike. They did have a basic right to resign, however, and if they really were "principled," they would have. Their sense of self-importance was inflated and misplaced. It was like a mass psychosis, lemmings off a cliff. Among the most important of several factors they failed to take into account is that Federal bureaucracies are appallingly bloated. There were so many qualified controllers tucked away in offices, performing "administrative duties," pushing papers in an effort to move up the management ladder that, when they came out of the woodwork, and everyone was scheduled an extra day per week of overtime, there was something very close to a full workforce. Not only that, but without all the procedural red tape generated by those office jobs, necessary critical procedural changes were accomplished in record time. The tensions between management and the workforce disappeared as supervisors donned their headsets to control airplanes (non-striking controllers, who were grown-ups after all, successfully supervised themselves), and, though it eroded over time, there was an exhilarating camaraderie in the control facilities, and a great sense of everyone working together toward a common goal: to keep the public flying safely. It was the best of times.
Spot on!!!
purely from an economic standpoint - it could be argued that reagan's decision greatly emboldened businesses to take measures to improve labor efficiency, and this improved productivity helped power the significant US economic growth of the 80's and 90's
NO IT DIDNT!!!!!!!!!!!
@@jeffreycone7504 obviously the human costs involved are not insignificant, and this is an emotive topic, but objectively yes it did
NO IT DID NOT. THE STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1987!!!!!!
👏👏👏
Another reason to hate Reagan. Great video!
Thank you!
Wouldn't you have done the same thing if you were in his position?
@@zacksexplainers That's before Reagan sold out and became compromised!!!!!!!!!!
@DirkMcgee That's before Reagan sold out and become compromised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why? This decreased the costs of ATC and all the people who were fired had an opportunity to not lose their jobs (which clearly weren't necessary anyways). He gave them a deal and they chose to FAFO instead. Government isn't a jobs program
Best thing Reagan ever did! It showed America that Reagan meant business. The Soviets learned that this guy wasn't a weak Jimmy Carter. Reagan stood up for what he believed in. Reagan himself was union leader, but he knew that the air traffic controllers were breaking the law by going on strike, since they were government employees. Reagan gave the ATC's an ultimatum go back to work or we fire you. He kept his word and did what he said he would. I'm not against union, but when unions make ridiculous demands, they lose all sympathy. Just look at the UAW last few days demanding a 46% increase in pay and the workweek cut from 40 hours to 32. Makes me buy a Toyota
Exactly!!! We need someone like Reagan today.
You'll howl the loudest when you lose your ssa and medicare which organized labor helped to spearhead.
@@WilliamM-e6n modern organized labour did very little for American worker. Many unions were and are run by the Mafia. I'm also not suggesting that every union is bad. However nevertheless if you have a union like the UAW, who thinks 40% pay raises are realistic, you just got to shake your head. GM and Chrysler bankrupt and Ford came close. The strike at International Harvester put this company into bankruptcy. Workers at Honda and Toyota are just doing fine without a union.
How? Our lives are worse off thanks to Reagan’s stupidity.
@@harutosunaa3881well, I don’t know… 49/50 states apparently disagreed with that idea when the election of 1984 rolled along.
The strike was illegal, period. Regan had every right to fire them. Those are the facts. Being an Air Traffic Controllers is very stressful. Ronny did have a lasting effect on the federal employee retirement system for the worst possible effect. And the feds wonder why they can't hire and keep employees. The older federal retirement system, CSRS, verses FERS , the current system is not as good.
W Reagan
They got what they asked for and then got greedy and demanded hundreds of millions more after! They broke the law. He gave them a chance and they tried to call his bluff and he fired them. Plain and simple. He gave them 48 hours......more than I would have given that's for sure
God bless President Reagan 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸✝️
He had no sympathy. He wouldn’t have fired all of them if he truly cared.
Unions by definition play chicken with the employer that pays the union members that pay the union dues.
He did have sympathy. He gave them a warning. They could go on to find other jobs. Did you feel bad for the workers who got fired over the covid vaccine?
Unions are great for lazy employees up until the moment EVERYBODY gets laidoff.
So that is why your work is your life and you all work to death in this sick country..
I'm sorry. Were all of those air traffic controllers forced into that profession? I was under the impression that these employees got their jobs through their own voluntary action by means of a fair and free market. I wrongly figured they were allowed to quit their position at any time in search of a different career. How could I be so stupid?!
@Fiddle Pants no they weren’t forced into that profession. But they were forced out by an overzealous president that seems to believe the collective bargaining is not a fundamental to American liberty. But then again you believe in the fairytale of the “fair” and “free market”, so I can’t really blame you for not being able to understand this distinction.
@@theQuestion626 36 hour work week and 5% pay raise seems pretty reasonable to me. Yes some people are delusional about the exaggerated concept of the fair and free market, but a lot of union workers become equally delusional and entitled over the smallest of things. Collective BARGAINING is the term, meaning that there is compromise. It doesn’t mean that the union gets everything they ask for.
@@joeydoherty368 then it appears to me as well as to history that Ronald Reagan did not care about such bargaining or compromise.
@@theQuestion626 He did give them a compromise. They didn’t want to take it, so he fired them. If he didn’t believe in compromising, he wouldn’t have offered them anything. Right or wrong, he was willing to bargain with them at least a little bit. Anyhow, like I said, it seemed reasonable to offer a 36 hour work week as opposed to what they were getting before negotiations.
@@theQuestion626 The compromise was that he would pardon the strikers and give all of them their jobs back after the strike if they stopped striking immediately. Remember it was against the law to strike, so they forfeited their jobs the moment they did so. Reagan actually tried to help get them their jobs back