Reagan fires 11,345 PATCO air traffic controllers for illegal federal employee strike

On August 3, 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) struck against the FAA demanding higher wages, shorter hours, and better equipment. President Reagan gave strikers 48 hours to return; when 11,345 of roughly 13,000 PATCO members refused, he fired them all on August 5 under the Taft-Hartley Act's ban on federal employee strikes. Courts upheld the firings. The FLRA decertified PATCO in October 1981. The episode proved two things: federal workers can organize and bargain but cannot legally strike, and a president can use existing law to destroy a union.