Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

Back at MEBA’s offices, they joined other controllers
who’d been anxiously awaiting the results.
DeFries and Thornton each spoke into a forest of
microphones to announce the historic news to a mob
of reporters and television camera crews. Afterward,
controllers, FAA officials, other dignitaries, and journalists
milled about a reception on the second floor.
The FAA managers wore gold NATCA pins in a show
of respect but, privately, they were stunned the union
had garnered so much support.
During the celebration, a member of Congress
approached an exhausted Mullin, who was sitting in
a corner nursing a drink. “You people have no idea
what you did,” the politician said. “They never saw
this coming.” Reflecting on the accomplishment now,
Mullin agrees. “To do it after an apocalyptic event but
before Reagan left the White House, and during an
anti-union decade with Pepsi-generation people was
quite astounding,” he says.
8
July
NTSB Chairman Jim Burnett tells the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
on Transportation that the FAA should implement an improved controller
feedback program. He says operational errors for April and May
The FLRA certified the election results on
June 19. Donald Engen, who presided over the FAA
throughout NATCA’s formation, had announced
the previous March that he intended to return to
the private sector. Two weeks after certification, he
left office. President Reagan and his administration
would occupy the White House for another nineteen
months. Once again, they had to deal with a labor
organization representing air traffic controllers, less
than six years after crushing its predecessor.
1. Hockstader, Lee. 1984. Controllers seek new union at Leesburg center. The
Washington Post. 30 May, final edition.
2. Smith, Philip. 1981. Three in PATCO given 10-day terms. The Washington
Post. 12 December, final edition.
3. Ibid.
4. Shifrin, Carole. 1984. Union launches program to organize controllers. Aviation
Week & Space Technology. 9 July.
5. Ibid.
6. Witkin, Richard. 1985. Pilots planning to form union for controllers. The New
York Times. 29 April.
7. MEBA archives.
8. NATCA archives. Founding convention transcript.
9. Ibid.
10. Adams, Marilyn, and Spahn, Holly. 1986. Air controllers see if union revival
will fly. USA Today. 23 September.
Chapter 3: A Long and Winding Road
1987 were 10 percent higher than 1986. Reports of near midair collisions
for the first five months of 1987 rose 39 percent.
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