Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

convention. His mastery of handling the proceedings
earned him such fame that he began to hold seminars
for delegates.
On stage, Krasner was in his element. “I like
arguing with a thousand people at a time,” he says
with his characteristic laugh.
There was plenty of opportunity. Convention
delegates considered some 100 constitutional
amendments and resolutions. Despite backing from
a majority of the National Executive Board, they declined
to increase dues by a half percent. However,
delegates agreed to impose an initiation fee for new
members equal to one year of dues, which took effect
the following October. Newly hired trainees were
granted a six-month grace period.
After listening to a heartfelt speech by John
Leyden, the delegates also voted by more than a
three-to-one margin to urge the Bush administration
to allow controllers fired in the 1981 strike to reapply
for new positions in the FAA.
Krasner had gone to Las Vegas intending to
announce his candidacy for executive vice president.
He and his campaign manager, Bernie Reed from Bay
TRACON, had prepared buttons and printed flyers to
slip beneath the doors to delegates’ rooms.
After Bell approached him, however, Krasner
hid the paraphernalia beneath the bed in his room,
fearing it would look like a setup. As it turned out,
his exposure on the podium may have been Krasner’s
1991
20
May
most effective campaign tool.
“There’s a really good possibility Barry would
never have become president of this union had that
not happened,” Spickler maintains.
When Krasner hit the campaign trail the following
January—during a honeymoon in Las Vegas
with his second wife, Sallie—he sought the presidency.
A changing of the guard seemed likely.
By now, the board’s frustration had been compounded
by Bell’s long absences the previous summer
while he tried
to mend fences with
Karin. For Krasner,
the decision to run
against his friend
was a difficult one.
His change of heart
arose over a separate
financial matter
stemming from
a dinner with Bell
and Leyden that
occurred before the
Vegas convention.
During an
Eastern Region pre-
convention caucus
in Atlantic City,
Bell invited Barry
NATCA and the FAA reach agreement on alternative work schedules,
which enable controllers to complete an 80-hour work period in less than
ten days.
Chapter 5: The Art of the Deal
133
NATCA archives
Friends and foes: Barry Krasner, left, and Steve Bell formed a personal bond at New
York TRACON during the mid-1980s. Dissatisfaction with Bell’s leadership, however,
drove Krasner to campaign for president in the 1991 election and defeat Bell.