When the air traffic controllers’ union announced a walkout on Aug. 3, 1981, I did not take it seriously. I left their press conference on a Friday afternoon thinking: “They won’t go on strike. That would be stupid!”
So, I left Washington, D.C., for the weekend confident that nothing would happen. I didn’t listen to the radio, read a newspaper or watch TV news.
I returned for the Monday morning staff meeting at U.S. News & World Report. I was ambushed.
After others talked about the Middle East and the economy, the managing editor turned to me, the transportation writer. “Tell us, about the air traffic controllers, Mike.”
“Huh,” I thought. But somehow, I bluffed my way through with a non-answer. Maybe the labor beat reporter bailed me out. I learned that not only had the controllers walked out, but the Reagan administration had fired them and permanently replaced with new workers.
When the unthinkable strike happened, I was assigned to go to the control tower at Dulles International Airport to see how replacement workers were handling the air traffic.
I was gladly allowed in as the administration wanted to demonstrate that things were going on just fine. And they were, apparently, though I did get a little uncomfortable when one of the novices took his eyes off the screen and turned to chat with me. “Get back on the screen!” I wanted to yell.
I have read recent commentaries that the strike was a turning point in American history. Private employers took a cue from the government’s tough stance and took a hard line against labor. Union membership declined, and businesses had the upper hand.
In fact, they were still talking about this disaster in 1995 when I covered the labor beat for the Kiplinger Letter and attended AFL-CIO conventions in New York.
Guess I was right: they made a mistake!
I have come across two Halifax County men who were air traffic controllers at the time of the strike. One was Boyd Archer, a supervisor of the controllers who walked out. Boyd recalls having to work long hours when it happened. He says that the air traffic system never fully recovered from the event.
Another is Wayne Stanfield, who was chief air controller of the military radar facility in Fairfield, California. Wayne says a lot of the controllers he supervised were transferred to replace the striking workers.
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