Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

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Against the Wind
1978 PATCO contract: Ten years later,
NATCA would rely on parts of its predecessor’s
last agreement with the FAA as a
foundation for new bargaining talks.
1981
22
June
them all back to work,” one said.
“If you have a problem with that, let’s go back
in there now,” Leyden shouted.
He watched with glee as they scurried away.
Although no public announcement was made, all of
the fired controllers were gradually reinstated.
Decade of Progress
By September 1972, PATCO was
back on solid footing and had gained official
recognition as a trade union representing
all controllers—not just its members.
That same year, PATCO successfully
lobbied for congressional passage of its Second-Career
Retirement Bill. This landmark
law established the precedent that controllers
experienced more debilitating stress than other
workers. On that basis, Congress stipulated
they could retire on half their base salary at age
50 with twenty years of service or at any age
with twenty-five years of service. The law also
enabled controllers who could no longer work because
of physical or psychological reasons to collect
full salary and benefits for two years while they
received vocational retraining.
Leyden considers this “one of the crowning
achievements of my term in office,” despite his disappointment
that Congress later canceled funding for
Telephone polling of union halls across the nation conducted in the early
hours of the morning indicates that less than 80 percent of PATCO
controllers have voted to strike. About 5 a.m. Eastern time, Robert Poli
the retraining program.
The union racked up other gains throughout
the decade and signed its second contract with the
FAA in 1978. One notable provision included an annual
overseas familiarization trip (FAM trips enable
controllers to observe pilots from the cockpit jump
seat). But when the Air Transport Association told
Leyden it wouldn’t honor the FAM
provision, he called for another
slowdown.
He viewed it as a matter
of principle. “If they’re going
to make that clause invalid,
then that opens up the whole
contract and everything else is
subject to review and change.
This was my mistake,” Leyden
acknowledges now.
Controllers in New
York, Chicago, and elsewhere,
who were more interested
in financial gains,
offered only lukewarm support
for two-day slowdowns in May and
June.
Leyden’s second key error stemmed from a proactive
move that backfired. Realizing that another job
action would have to entail a strike, he reviewed other
public walkouts. Borrowing an idea from a teach-
tentatively agrees to the FAA’s “final” contract offer from Transportation
Secretary Drew Lewis, despite knowing there is little union support for its
provisions.