“A PROMISE”
PATCO Rally, September 25, 1981
Jim Weyrauch, Secretary, NCFLL, AFGE, AFL-CIO
Jim Weyrauch, Secretary, NCFLL, AFGE, AFL-CIO
Much has been said about the oath given the air traffic controllers when hired by the government. This oath was merely a promise. A promise is a declaration assuring that one will do or will not do something. All government employees make this promise as their half of a bargain. The government in it’s half, promises to give these employees fair pay and a say, through collective bargaining, in their working environment. The Federal Aviation Administration failed in its promise to the Air Traffic Controllers.
Ronald Reagan says that his is the “Administration of Promise”. He promised to cut the budget. He promised to take government out of the marketplace. He also promised to address and remedy the intolerable working conditions of the Air Traffic Controllers. These were all campaign promises.
Ronald Reagan kept his promise to cut the budget, no matter what it cost the poor, ill and the aged. Ronald Reagan kept his promise to get the government out of the marketplace, no matter what it cost the workers. The only campaign promise he hasn’t kept is the one to the traffic controllers. And when they tried to bring the administration to task, by going to the streets, he fired them.
I urge all concerned citizens, no matter what your feelings on the issues, to contact the President and let him know that you want him to keep his promise. That the Federal Aviation reinstate the 12,000 fired controllers and get back to bargaining table and resolve the issues, as he promised to do.
The FAA is spending millions of dollars to train new controllers. Millions of unnecessary dollars that could and should be spent on needed social programs. How many more Thursday night re-runs of Death Valley Days do we need? How many more times should we have to listen to the Great Communicator tell us that if we tighten our belts, just one more time, his ill-conceived economic program will work, and that’s a promise.
Today I make a promise. That this show of support for the sisters and brothers of PATCO is our message to the Administration. Federal employees will demand their rights as employees, union members and citizens. WE SHALL BE HEARD!
Ronald Reagan kept his promise to cut the budget, no matter what it cost the poor, ill and the aged. Ronald Reagan kept his promise to get the government out of the marketplace, no matter what it cost the workers. The only campaign promise he hasn’t kept is the one to the traffic controllers. And when they tried to bring the administration to task, by going to the streets, he fired them.
I urge all concerned citizens, no matter what your feelings on the issues, to contact the President and let him know that you want him to keep his promise. That the Federal Aviation reinstate the 12,000 fired controllers and get back to bargaining table and resolve the issues, as he promised to do.
The FAA is spending millions of dollars to train new controllers. Millions of unnecessary dollars that could and should be spent on needed social programs. How many more Thursday night re-runs of Death Valley Days do we need? How many more times should we have to listen to the Great Communicator tell us that if we tighten our belts, just one more time, his ill-conceived economic program will work, and that’s a promise.
Today I make a promise. That this show of support for the sisters and brothers of PATCO is our message to the Administration. Federal employees will demand their rights as employees, union members and citizens. WE SHALL BE HEARD!
