Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

quickly back-pedaled in the face of irate reactions
from key congressmen. Thornton did not believe
NATCA should be fighting for the
issue, particularly while it was
trying to build a presence on
Capitol Hill. His position
angered Mullin, who left
the board a year before the
discussion about Thornton.
Even so, simmering
dissatisfaction lingered.
U n w i t t i n g l y ,
Thornton had not really
ingratiated himself with Michael
McNally, who had been
elected executive vice president
the previous year. Thornton had developed a close
confidence with President Barry Krasner, a level of
trust that McNally did not yet enjoy. At the meeting
in Pittsburgh, Krasner tried to persuade the board
not to take such drastic action, but a majority voted
to remove Thornton. It was one of the few debates
Krasner has ever lost and lent credence to those who
contend that the union “eats our young.”
“Politics gets involved,” Krasner says now. “You
know that if you don’t have your entire board behind
you, you’re going to fall apart. It’s not just a matter
of removing John. They can remove me. They can
ultimately do what they want if you don’t have your
26
Apr.
The FLRA certifies NATCA as the exclusive bargaining representative for
274 FAA regional office employees in the Logistics, Finance, and Computer
Support divisions.
executive board behind you.”
Krasner went home to Long Island, as he usually
did on weekends, and agonized about what to
do. Early Monday morning, he and McNally drove
to Washington. While they were on the road, Sallie
Krasner awoke in bed, crying, and wrote out a
speech that she paged to both men. “Please reconsider
this,” she said. “Please don’t do this. Please
think about what you’re doing.”
Krasner listened to the page when he arrived
at the national office, but the outcome was
inevitable. The board’s decision astonished many
members. “When I think about NATCA, I think
about John,” says Ray Spickler. Michael Putzier,
Central Region vice president at the time, likens the
action to “firing the founder.”
Thornton was as shocked as anyone. “I thought
it was obvious to them I was doing good work for the
union and I was a believer in all this stuff,” he says.
Over time, the wounds healed and he has grown
philosophical. “You go through things, and if you
don’t get over them, you’ve crippled yourself.”
Two months after Thornton left, NATCA hired
Ken Montoya to lead the fight to regain Chapter 71
rights. MEBA retained Thornton as its deputy director
of legislative affairs, but he was laid off a few months
later in a cost-cutting sweep and moved on to the National
Parks and Conservation Association. In 1997,
he joined the FAA’s Free Flight program, an initiative
Chapter 6: Spreading its Wings
203
John Thornton: After leaving NATCA, he
became involved with the FAA’s Free Flight
project and was named acting director of
the program in late 2001. / NATCA archives