Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

When John Leyden visited O’Hare looking for members
to join the newly formed PATCO, Bellino was the
first trainee to sign up. But he was forced to retire a
few years before the strike on medical disability. He
believed the agency acted without just cause and spent
seven years fighting on
his own for reinstatement.
When he wasn’t working
as a McHenry, Illinois, po-
liceman or at other jobs,
he spent hours in the library
researching the law
on employees’ rights.
Bellino hit a breakthrough
in his case when
he wrote to the American
Medical Association
to prepare for a hearing
with the FAA and discovered
that the doctor
who’d issued his medical
disqualification was not
board certified at the time. After Bellino informed
the agency, he was quickly allowed back on the job
in 1984 with full seniority.
He soon joined the drive for election petition
signatures and mounted an effort to obtain extra
money for understaffed O’Hare Tower/TRACON,
which culminated with the Pay Demonstration
Nov.
Project in 1989 that covered seven air traffic control
facilities. He also served as the Great Lakes alternate
regional rep under Jim Poole before his election to the
National Executive Board in 1988.
In the election of 1991, seven board members
endorsed Krasner, helping
him defeat Bell with
60 percent of the vote.
Bellino beat Spickler by
“
an equally large margin.
Afterward, Bell transferred
to Phoenix TRA-
CON, where he raised
eyebrows by quitting the
union for a few weeks
over a travel voucher dispute.
He later moved to
the FAA Command Center
in Herndon, Virginia,
as a traffic management
specialist and trainer.
“His leadership
qualities were strong-willed,” says former New England
Regional Rep Jim Breen. “He was what the union needed
to get started. Beyond the first term, we needed to get out
of an organizational mode and into an operating mode.”
Spickler went to Dulles Tower/TRACON and
later transferred to Kansas City Tower as a supervisor
(the only way the agency would pay for his move)
Everybody wanted the world.
In two-and-a-half years, you
can’t deliver that. We didn’t
even have an office staff.
[Bell] started this and got
everything going.
— Former President Michael McNally
NATCA and the FAA formally agree to implement Quality Through Partnership.
This program is intended as a collaborative labor-management
relationship that creates “an environment where employees are empow-
Chapter 5: The Art of the Deal
ered to participate in decisions that affect their work lives.” QTP National
Coordinator Michael McNally initially oversees the program for NATCA,
followed by Bill Murphy from Kansas City Center.
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