Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

limited time to reapply and about 5,000 did so. The
agency responded deliberately, but rehired some 800,
most since 1997. Passing certification again was not
easy for all of them, who were re-entering a young
man’s profession and
confronting traffic that
had doubled since they
left more than fifteen
years earlier.
“I’ve watched PAT-
CO brothers come in that
door and what that did to
them is worse than what
the strike did,” says Bob
Butterworth, who walked
out at Oakland Center
in 1981 and now works
at Southern California
TRACON in San Diego.
“They remembered
themselves as being good
at their jobs, but with
all the additional traffic these days and the fact that
they’re so much older now, it was crushing. They had
to go back to their now-grown children and say they
were failures.”
Even for those who succeeded, checking out
could be a bumpy ride. Many rehires encountered
the same insolent attitudes that first-time trainees
23
Feb.
endured. They also discovered a more reserved work
force shaped by different circumstances and times.
“We were more like family,” says Jim Shearer, a striker
who hired back in at Indianapolis Center and now
works at Indianapolis
Tower/TRACON.
The clash of cultures
and lack of un-
“
derstanding about history
saddens people like
Barry Krasner. “We forget
all those who died before
us,” he says. For controllers
who remain opposed
to rehires, he reminds
them: “They gave all
they had. You may not
have agreed with them
going on strike, but you
couldn’t have the contract
you have, the pay
raise you have, or the job
you have if they hadn’t died so you could live.”
On a Monday morning in mid-September
1995, Krasner found himself in an awkward meeting
with a former PATCO controller—an individual
who, like the rehires, had inspired heated emotions
over the years. The encounter stemmed from a decision
made at a National Executive Board session the
These individuals are the
same as you are. They wanted
to change the system. In
many instances, through no
fault of their own, they lost
their jobs.
— Former PATCO President John Leyden
The union holds its second annual Legislative Conference Committee,
attended by about seventy NATCA activists. Democratic Louisiana Rep.
William Jefferson speaks out against privatization of the FAA.
Chapter 6: Spreading its Wings
201