Yesterday, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed new contract terms on U.S. air traffic controllers after 10 months of bargaining failed to produce a new agreement.
The new terms include lower starting salaries for new hires and new rules to boost worker productivity.
The FAA, under pressure to cut spending and operate more like a business, expects the contract terms to save nearly $2 billion over five years.
According to Reuters, relations between the FAA and controllers, at their lowest level since 1981 when President Ronald Reagan fired the thousands of illegally striking controllers who refused an order to return to work.
I was on the West coast visiting my family when the controllers went out on strike. I was very happy that President Reagan fired the illegal strikers, kept the planes flying, and enabled me to return to the East coast. I have always believed that working for the government is a privilege and that public servants should not have a right to strike.
I would require public employees to chose between civil service protection and a union contract, and I would outlaw compulsory union membership.
Posted by: Walter E. Wallis | Tuesday, June 06, 2006 at 10:14 AM