Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

to paint the playground equipment and make sure
the lawn gets mowed and the trash gets picked up.
Well, some of the new neighbors said: ‘Why should
I contribute? That park was here when I moved in.
I don’t have to pay for it. It’s always been part of my
life.’ So they didn’t kick
in any money.
“By and by, more
people move in and decide
the park has always
been a part of my life and
is something I’ve got coming
to me. Pretty soon, it
looks just like it was the
very first time they found
it.
“That’s why you
need the union, John. I’m
asking you for ten bucks
to fix the playground,
okay? Do you want to fix
it or don’t you?”
“Where do I sign
up?” Carr said.
As soon as he returned to Kansas City Tower/
TRACON, Carr manned a table in the break room to
hand out pledge cards. Managers followed a typical
pattern and looked askance at his involvement. “You
know when that effort fails, they’re going to fire you,”
1987
5
Jan.
“
You really can’t underestimate
that first step they took
because they were going up
against a government that had
just fired 11,000 people who
did the same job they did.
they’d say. “They’ll find a reason to fire you just like
they fired those other boys.”
Carr wasn’t intimidated nor were others drumming
up support for NATCA, even as they struggled
just to get inside some facilities. Managers usually relented
as soon as the controllers
reminded them
about the Civil Service
Reform Act, which guaranteed
workers the right
— John Thornton
to organize.
O’Hare TRACON
controller Joseph Bellino,
drawing on experience
he gained while serving
in the Army in Vietnam
and as a police officer in
McHenry, Illinois, relied
on another trick.
At facilities that
used numbered keypads
for door locks, Bellino
applied powdered de-
odorant to the keys and waited until someone
punched the code to open the door. The missing
powder on certain keys made it easy to determine
the correct numbers.
“We had a lot of great people step up,” Thornton
says. “You really can’t underestimate that first
NATCA files an election petition with the FLRA to be the sole bargaining
agent for all operational GS-2152 air traffic controllers. The proposed
Chapter 3: A Long and Winding Road
union needed 3,750 signatures—30 percent of the work force—but
submits 5,800, or 46 percent.
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