Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

38
Against the Wind
John Tune: After working as as a controller
in the Air Force, the Missouri native
underwent FAA training in the first class at
the academy after the strike. / NATCA archives
1981
22
Oct.
common to newcomers in the profession.
Tune was overwhelmed by the unfamiliar
equipment and terminology when he first walked into
the control tower at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene,
Texas. Fortunately, he was paired with a patient
supervisor, six months from
retirement.
“If you want to be a controller
and have questions, I’ll
be happy to answer them,”
the supervisor said. “But I’m
not going to motivate you to
do the job. That’s something
you have to do yourself.”
Tune took the advice
to heart, hit the books, and
peppered his supervisor with
queries. He became adept at
working T-37s, T-38s, and numerous
B-52 training missions before moving on to Keesler
Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Meanwhile, he
applied to the FAA to get a head start on joining the
agency when he went back to civilian life since it often
took months or even years before job openings
occurred.
The FAA wasn’t hiring when Tune left the service
in September 1980, so he returned to southern
Missouri and busied himself driving forklifts at a
lumber mill, working on the mill equipment, and
The FLRA decertifies PATCO, and the union files suit to appeal the action.
On December 3, Anthony “Skip” Skirlick from Los Angeles Center
testifies before the U.S. Court of Appeals. He agrees the government has
fixing semi-trailer trucks while he waited for the
call. He could barely contain his excitement when
the phone rang late in the afternoon of August 5 th ,
Reagan’s deadline.
“It was a goal,” Tune says, “and I’d worked for
peanuts long enough.”
But the strike concerned him. Although Tune
didn’t know much about unions, he understood
that crossing a picket line could be dangerous.
He called his former supervisor in the Air Force,
who was now working for the FAA, and several
other buddies in the agency. “Don’t worry
about it,” they told him. “They won’t fire us all.
Go ahead and take the job.”
Tune and his wife, Faye, drove to the FAA
Regional Office in Kansas City for an orientation
session on Friday. Then they returned home to
pick up their 2½-year-old son and some belongings
before heading west to Oklahoma City. Armed with
a list of apartments that the Regional Office had supplied,
they quickly found a place to live.
On Tuesday, August 11, Tune arrived at the
academy feeling apprehensive. He didn’t know what
to expect as he walked past numerous television news
cameras and into a large auditorium filled with about
sixty people. Among them was Tom Rucker, whom
Tune now describes as “probably the best controller
I’ve ever known.” During opening remarks, the man
at the podium asked everyone in the audience with
a legal right to fire the strikers, but argues that it serves no purpose to
disband a union still numbering several thousand members who are active
controllers. However, the court rules in favor of the FLRA in June 1982.