On This Day in 1981 U.S. federal air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike after their union, PATCO, rejected the government’s final contract offer. Most of the 13,000 strikers ignored orders to go back to work and were fired on August 5 by President Reagan for participating in an illegal work stoppage. Reagan’s action – and the inability of the labor movement to respond to the crisis – led to the rapid downhill spiral of unions.
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