Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. In 1981, when Air Traffic Controllers went on strike, President Reagan fired all of them. Now, members of the Air Traffic Controllers Association, which has 15,000 members, have voted to reject new pay scales enacted by the FAA.
Since the union and the FAA cannot come to an agreement and are deadlocked, the agency has the right to impose its contract. Only Congress can enforce a change, but it must act within 60 days of the deadlock. It may vote on this next week.
Under the new contract, the FAA expects to save $1.9 billion in salaries over a five year period. New hires would earn $93,000 a year. The FAA claims that the agency’s income, which is based upon ticket taxes, has fallen and so it can no longer afford to pay high wages. Controllers earn $170,000 per year in salaries and benefits, which represents a 75% increase since 1998.
While the controllers and their union are threatening a massive wave of early retirements to force the FAA to back down, the reality is that the agency is on firm ground. If the controllers refuse to learn the lessons implicit in their own history, they will be doomed once again.
