General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNow I remember...
I failed and missed an anniversary which was yesterday. 37 years ago yesterday was what brother my and I referred to as "The Day The Music Died". It was the beginning of the death throes of organized unions at the federal level and you would be hard pressed to find a more stunning reversal for worker's rights.
On August 3, 1981, during a press conference regarding the PATCO strike, President Reagan stated: "They are in violation of the law and if they do not report for work within 48 hours they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."
At 7 a.m. on August 3, 1981, the union declared a strike, seeking better working conditions, better pay, and a 32-hour workweek (a four-day week and a eight-hour day combined). In addition, PATCO wanted to be excluded from the civil service clauses that it had long disliked. In striking, the union violated 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p (now 5 U.S.C. § 7311), which prohibits strikes by federal government employees. After supporting PATCO's effort in his 1980 campaign, Ronald Reagan declared the PATCO strike a "peril to national safety" and ordered them back to work under the terms of the Taft-Hartley Act. Only 1,300 of the nearly 13,000 controllers returned to work.[5] Subsequently, at 10:55 a.m., Reagan included the following in a statement to the media from the Rose Garden of the White House: "Let me read the solemn oath taken by each of these employees, a sworn affidavit, when they accepted their jobs: 'I am not participating in any strike against the Government of the United States or any agency thereof, and I will not so participate while an employee of the Government of the United States or any agency thereof.'"[7] He then demanded those remaining on strike return to work within 48 hours, otherwise their jobs would be forfeited. At the same time, Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis organized for replacements and started contingency plans. By prioritizing and cutting flights severely, and even adopting methods of air traffic management that PATCO had previously lobbied for, the government was initially able to have 50% of flights available.[5]
On August 5, following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, Reagan fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers and unions have been systemically been cut from federal, state, and local governments ever since...
elleng
(130,740 posts)"The Day The Music Died" indeed.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,816 posts)completely backed Reagan. It was obvious to the most casual observer that firing the Air Traffic Controllers was the death knell of unions.
BigmanPigman
(51,567 posts)and when I heard that their union was the only one that supported him and this is how he repaid them I hit the ceiling. I wasn't aware of that small but important fact. I have always been pro-union and even marched on a picket line with my Dad when I was 9 during summer vacation and AT&T went on strike. Eventually I became a union rep at my school and I was harassed by every single principal for it.
marked50
(1,364 posts)The constant attempts at suppression must never be forgotten, because when they are the floodgates open to drown us all. Remember Ludlow!..
pecosbob
(7,533 posts)Forty years of workers being f*cked. Pretty sad to see wages the same more or less at sixty years of age as when you got out of high school.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)was at a local democratic Party meet and greet and was talking with another Democrat about this very thing. When our different union's strength started being attacked by the RW repthigliKKKans and we both agreed this was a death knell of sorts. Reagan, another walking POS like his clone orangemanlittlehands.
Trump is doing all these rallies to get his base ready to violently defend him when the Mueller probe finds him and his grifter family guilty of a multitude of crimes. I'd bet my bottom dollar. He wants violence. Cowardly people always want others to protect them and he's the perfect carnival barker showcasing his circus freaks.