In front of the Washington D.C. FMCS headquarters, Bob Poli, President of Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), is being interviewed following an all night mediation session conducted by Ken Moffett, the Director of FMCS, in August 1981.

PATCO represented all government Air Traffic Controllers in the U.S. Prior to the meeting, PATCO members had voted to strike if the U.S. Government would not agree to union demands. President Poli is explaining that an agreement was not reached during their long meeting, and therefore, the union will strike later that day, regardless of the fact that a strike by Government employees is illegal.

Without Air Traffic Controllers on the job at U.S. airports, air traffic quickly became very limited and dangerous. Given this impact on air travel and commerce, President Reagan informed the media and the union that he would give PATCO members 48 hours to return to work; those who failed to return to work would be fired. The 11,000 PATCO members who did not return to work were fired and replaced.

This Presidential action began a significant decline of union membership and the number of collective bargaining agreements in the U.S. It also diminished the need for some FMCS mediators.

Ironically, PATCO was the only union that supported Reagan’s election, and Reagan had been the president of a labor union (Screen Actors Guild), an experience that no other US President had.