THE 1981 PATCO STRIKE: HOW REAGAN BETRAYED THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS
by Rufus Tyler
The 1981 PATCO air traffic controllers' strike was one of the largest strikes by federal employees in the United States. This strike had ramifications that would be felt world wide by the working classes, especially in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It would also mark the ultimate betrayal by a man whose reputation for selling out workers to serve his personal and political ambitions. That man was Ronald Reagan.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers' Organisation was the industry's union. They had been incorporated in 1968. 1968 was a turbulent year, the Prague Spring, the Paris Riots and the Tlatelolco massacre, where 325 were killed, hapenned abroad while in the US Martin Luther King, Jr and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy were both assassinated.