Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

to campaign for the bill. By fall, the Senate passed
a companion measure, which President Reagan
signed into law a month later.
NATCA’s first significant legislative victory
came as Bell and Spickler joined a skeletal national
office staff on the eighth floor of MEBA headquarters
at 444 North Capitol Street in Washington.
Besides Thornton and Osborne, Richard
Gordon Jr. served as director of labor relations
and Tony Dresden handled public
affairs.
“They had to create new space where
none had been as far as developing the
whole organization. Their space at MEBA
headquarters grew as they grew,” Doc Cullison
says. “But that was the sort of thankless job that
Steve and Ray did—to create the environment. The
things you take for granted.”
Such as hiring a bookkeeper, receptionist, secretaries,
and other staff members, leasing and buying
office equipment, establishing lines of communication
with union members and the FAA, and negotiating
with the agency. Indeed, Bell and Spickler were
forced to spend a good deal of time and energy on
infrastructure during their three-year reign.
With President Bell on the scene, Thornton’s
title of executive director posed a dilemma for outsiders
who might be confused about the group’s
leadership. Joe Kilgallon, a consultant whom NATCA
1988
Apr.
and PATCO retained periodically, devised a solution.
Thornton was named to the newly created position of
senior director for legislative affairs.
Among the new faces appearing at the national
office was a stylishly dressed, fun-loving woman
named Frances Alsop,
whom Spickler hired as
the union’s comptroller
in May 1989. NATCA
had seen two previous
bookkeepers come
and go, but Alsop
would remain with the
union for twelve years
until she passed away in
August 2001.
Fellow employees and NATCA members were
largely unaware of Alsop’s lengthy illness until her
death, which took away a vibrant personality and a
gold mine of institutional history.
A year after Alsop joined NATCA, Adell Humphreys,
a tall woman with flowing blonde hair and
an easy smile, came onboard. More than a decade
earlier, Humphreys had been secretary for PATCO’s
director of operations until she moved on when the
job lost its challenge. Humphreys had met Thornton
during her PATCO days and they kept in touch
throughout the Eighties.
In April 1990, he called to let her know about
A joint NATCA-FAA labor-management training course, called “Partners
in Problem Solving,” begins. Three-day sessions are held in the regions
throughout the spring and summer.
Chapter 4: The House that NATCA Built
105
Frances Alsop: The union’s longtime
comptroller was a vivacious presence at
NATCA headquarters until she passed
away in August 2001. / NATCA archives