dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) (01/07/86)
In article <196@hropus.UUCP> ijk@hropus.UUCP (Ihor J. Kinal) writes: >... what about re-hiring the terminated air-controllers?? I >believe they've been severely punished for their actions, and that >the current state of air-traffic controlling is near chaos >(the number of near-misses has climbed dramatically). Anyone >want to add to this?? From what little I have read on the Air Traffic Controllers (I'll call them ATCs from now on), the main reason for the strike was NOT money. The main beef of the ATCs was the outdated instruments and the insane working conditions. Robert Poli, the head of the ATC union, had tried to get the bureaucrats' attention for years, and finally the ATCs had enough and decided to strike to call attention to what they considered to be dangerously outdated equipment and hazardous work schedules. So, as in any negotiation, Poli decided to start out by asking for the moon; he threw in a demand for significantly higher salaries, which he was ready to negotiate away in return for more reasonable work schedules. The Reagan administration completely ignored his demands, and made a big issue out of his salary request, thus getting the public on Reagan's side. Once the public had sided squarely with him, he dropped the bomb and refused to negotiate, and threatened to fire anyone who joined the strike. Poli had no choice but to strike and call Reagan's bluff. Reagan had no choice but to look tough and fire them all. He then had to hire turkeys who had never seen an ATC screen and give them a crash course in Traffic Control. So the experienced ATCs were replaced with people who had minimal rushed "training." Ironically, the new ATCs soon began complaining about the very things which the original group had tried to call attention to: the work schedules were so harsh and the equipment so outdated that they were unable to do their work safely. As before, the bureaucrats ignored them, and so now we have badly trained, inexperienced ATCs working under impossible conditions. The preceding is what I have read. It is obviously heavily biased toward the former ATCs' viewpoint. Anybody care to add details? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave) "Truth will become the hallmark of the Nixon administration." -Herbert G. Klein