The 35-day government shutdown that ran December 22, 2018 – January 25, 2019 was ended when air traffic controllers stopped coming to work while their paychecks were delayed. They were emboldened when they started hearing they’d get paid for their sick out days when the shutdown ended, and those wouldn’t count against accrued leave.
- The slowdown in air traffic meant that government and opinion leaders directly felt the impact of the shutdown, and influential constituents did too.
- There’s no question that controllers decided to be sick, rather than being actually sick, and there was no consequence to them for doing this.
During this government shutdown, the air traffic controllers union has been consistent in telling controllers not to do this. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, an AFL-CIO affiliate, was certified in 1987 and replaced the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization which was de-certified following the illegal 1981 strike. NATCA promised at the time never to condone an illegal strike.
But individual controllers aren’t showing up for work, and it seems to be happening in clusters at different centers on different days. They’re even talking about it somewhat openly on Reddit. Burbank and Nashville towers went dark this week without controllers. Denver and Boston were severely short controllers. Other shortages caused flight delays as well. Today we have Newark:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is telling them they must show up to work. It’s being taken by controllers as a ‘veiled threat’ although it doesn’t seem so veiled.
- He explicitly told controllers: “Show up for work. You have a job to do.” His spokesperson confirmed, “employees who fail to report for duty could face disciplinary action, including dismissal.”
- Language here gives him enough wiggle room to communicate a threat without committing him to carry through, however.
My message to the air traffic controllers who work at @USDOT: Show up for work.
You have a job to do! pic.twitter.com/FXNGRLOvZQ
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) October 8, 2025
In August, 1981 air traffic controllers went on strike. Negotiations between the FAA and their union broke down.
- They wanted a 32 hour work week and $10,000 raises
- The FAA offered 11.4% a year raises for 3 years, which was more than double what was offered to other federal employees. No reduced work week was offered.
The union declared a strike on August 3, 1981 which violated what is now 5 U.S.C. § 7311 prohibiting federal government employees from striking. President Reagan ordered air traffic controllers back to work, calling their strike a “peril to national safety.” Approximately 10% of the nation’s 13,000 controllers came back to work.
The President held a news conference where he read from the oath taken by each federal employees upon accepting their jobs,
I am not participating in any strike against the Government of the United States or any agency thereof, and I will not so participate while an employee of the Government of the United States or any agency thereof.
Reagan gave striking controllers 48 hours to return to work or lose their jobs. He obtained a federal court injunction against the strike, and the court fined the union and several of its officers for each day of the trike.
The government managed to get air system capacity up to 50%, enough not to have to capitulate politically to the strikers. Without flights, the administration would have been under tremendous pressure to agree to terms. Some military controllers were used, along with air traffic control supervisors, and other employees to restore air service capacity. It took 10 years for staffing levels to be fully restored.
On August 5, 1981 the President fired the 11,345 striking controllers who did not return to work, as well as banning them from federal employment for life. The Federal Labor Relations Authority decertified the union two months later.
Some striking air traffic controllers were re-hired in 1996, while the civil service ban was fully lifted by President Clinton during his first year in office. This was an important symbolic victory for unions as an important Democratic constituency, however less than 1,000 air traffic controllers were actually rehired following this move.
PATCO had endorsed Ronald Reagan for President during the 1980 elections. During the campaign Reagan wrote the union promising a “spirit of cooperation.” Several scholars consider the President’s firing of air traffic controllers to have been an important moment in labor relations, which emboldened private sector employers to exercise their own legal rights in this area as well. But the truth is deregulation had more to do with it – it reduced barriers to entry into several industries and put competitive pressure on prices. There were fewer rents to redistribute. And that (along with globalization) were major forces driving the decline in unionization.
Unfortunately, the country is short controllers to begin with and has been for decades, and that has nothing to do with firing of controllers in 1981. It’s purely because of:
- the use of old tech – and the FAA’s abject failure to modernize for decades – and the need for more human controllers as a result, combined with
- the FAA’s failure to increase training and placement of new controllers. There haven’t been enough training seats. Until recently they’ve insisted on doing required training entirely themselves. And they’ve allowed centers to sign off – or not – on new controllers and the incentives there can be perverse (New York TRACON has generally been unwilling to add controllers to their ranks, and has been the most understaffed).
My sense is that Duffy is jawboning here. He wants to get more controllers showing up, and keep others from not doing so if the shutdown drags on – he doesn’t actually want to back himself into a corner firing controllers en masse because that’s only going to dig a bigger hole for himself and the FAA to dig out of once the shutdown ends.
We could see a small number of controllers made an example of, however, especially where they’ve made explicit posts stating what they did (and where those posts which generally use pseuodnymns, can be tied to specific epople).
Ah, attacking workers… just like attacking the poor and vulnerable… a tale as old as time.
Excellent idea by Duffy. Let’s fire everyone and see how well our civil aviation system works. Politicians and their politically-appointed cronies seem to think they can treat people like sh!t, not pay them, and they’ll just lay there and take it. If I were being threatened with not receiving back pay while being told by my boss that I don’t deserve my back pay I sure as sh!t would find a temporary job to make sure I have money to pay my bills.
Sure…this is going to help…fire the workers there is already a shortage of?
So when the government eventually goes back to work, who is going to be doing these jobs? Duffy himself?
The incompetence and arrogance of this administration is only eclipsed by its absurdism and buffoonery. They could always reopen the House of Representatives and begin actual negotiations to open government again. The Republicans control the House, Senate and Supreme Court yet they can’t seem to do anything that benefits the American people and those who actually do the work of keeping the government running.
Half of the IRS staff has been furloughed so the government won’t even be able to collect taxes. It’s as if they’re doing it on purpose.
This post won’t be posted because it’s too critical of the present administration.
@Parker — It’s always been a class war, masked as a culture war. Demagogues, like you-know-who and his backers, are quick to blame this or that ‘out’ group as their scapegoat(s); meanwhile, the oligarchs, both in our country and globally, take more and more power, resources, and rights away from the people. At some point, folks will not just take that anymore… It’d sure be nice if those at the top realized that their insatiable greed is unsustainable, for themselves and everyone. Alas, some of our fellow commenters forget all this, as they pretend to be ‘self-reliant,’ and think of themselves as merely ‘temporarily poor billionaires,’ you know, just ‘down on their luck,’ and because they’re ‘one of the good ones,’ they won’t be hurt by such careless policies or outcomes. Gonna be quite the wake-up-call for them. We all should know better.
@Tony — Your comment posted without issue (and I tend to agree with what you said.) By the way, VFTW has had some recent glitches with posting/duplicates, etc., but I’ll attest, Gary is not micromanaging us, and tends to let nearly all comments post. You’d really have to say some horrific things to get removed. Yes, there are some words that get the auto-moderation, like c—pit, ironically.
@Tony the furloughing of the IRS is an excuse to let the rich dodge taxes with less fear of an audit. Then, with less tax revenue they can continue to put the screws to the poor and the vulnerable while dear leader gets a $67 million handout from Miami-Dade College for a new Presidential Library and Hotel Tower in the form of high-coveted land in downtown Miami, a $300 retrofit of an airplane that will never be used for official purposes and tens of millions of dollars to guild the White House in gold and pave over the Rose Garden.
@Parker. What he said. How much is enough? There is little left for competition as everyone consolidated without any guff from Congress. Big tech is eliminating more jobs and gaining more power. We will wake up socialists. As it is Capitalism has been diluted.
“Nav America” is long, long overdue.
There are incentives to sick out.
Federal workers get paid for the shutdown after it ends so don’t show up, get paid. Show up, get paid. So why work? What they should do is to charge workers sick leave time if they don’t show up.
This is on the Democrats, they want to give healthcare to illegals.
I think it’s time replace all union workers with the military until we can privatize.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
The “Reagan Revolution” is coming to its crazy fruition with the Trumpublican-Vancian regime doing the bidding of the ultra-rich but doing it in ever more extremely stupid ways. Threatening stressed out ATC employees isn’t good for anyone except maybe people who love to see themselves on TV no matter how ridiculous their thoughts, but that is par for the course with this clown cabinet.
The firing of the ATC people and the breaking of PATCO was one of the worst events in modern US history. Reagan is burning in hell for that alone.
Workers need to show up for work unless they have a legitimate reason to be out. If they are not following the rules they should be subject to disciplinary actions up to and including termination.
Worker shortages are not an excuse to allow employees to violate workplace rules.
@David — Sounds like we should hire David; he’ll work without getting paid. What a stand up citizen.
@derek — What the government should do is follow the law on backpay, passed in 2019, signed by #47, which says, federal workers who are furloughed do get paid once shutdown is resolved. Don’t like that law? Advocate for a change.
What the Senators should do is negotiate a budget, in good faith, both sides. Time will tell whether they do any of that, but one thing is for sure, this does not make those in-power look good. Hey, who’s in-charge right now?
@Walter Barry — I’ll remind you of what you and your type typically tell others on here, something about ‘crying harder,’ ‘your feelings,’ and ‘El Salvador,’ all of which indeed irrelevant here.
Now that we’ve gotten your hateful one-liners out of the way, I’d say, thank goodness a few Democrats still have a backbone, aren’t merely corporate shills, and seem to be willing to hold the line for now on important things like everyone’s healthcare. If they didn’t, those insurance premiums were about to skyrocket, and still may (thank Republicans for that mess.)
Also, do be careful about upsetting the military; they’re working without pay, and your guy is sending some of them to American cities to pick up garbage. They deserve better.
Walter Barry drinks the koolaid and repeats bs, word for word…
No one wants to give his so called “illegals” healthcare. What makes him think they can get healthcare when US citizens can’t?
All of the ACA policies specifically exclude undocumented persons from receiving any healthcare benefit under the law.
Clinton lifted the ban on striking ATCs in 1993, aka his first full year in office (not ’96 as written).
@Paul — Walter Barry frequently parrots Kremlin disinformation on here and other travel blogs. Sadly, he’s not the only resident bigot. Lest we forget the paradox of tolerance…
@GUWonder — Wherever you are, I just wanted to say, well said on BlueSky about Professor Mark Bray’s plight; hope he and his family make it to Spain and to safety. Government targeting of academia, comedians, anyone for their protected speech is a threat to all of us. Gary ought to report on that if he wishes.
@GUWonder — Mark updated about an hour ago that he and his family made it on a rebooked flight tonight. Phew!
I’m shocked about the # of you that misunderstand multiple things about the current situation. Blaming the “administration” for the Senate’s failure to pass the 7-week continuing resolution indicates that many of you don’t understand the duties of the 3 branches of U.S govt.
Regarding illegals getting benefits from ACA, that refers to Emergency Room visits, which are funded from ACA when people don’t pay. The non-payers are the illegal aliens that use E.R for regular healthcare instead of paying a doctor, because E.R is funded by taxpayers, not illegals. They steal from you every time they go to the E.R for foot fungus or sinus infection.
Regarding Democrats “standing their ground” by refusing the C.R.: making a “clean C.R” become dirty by adding $1.5 trillion (when the debt is already $37.8 trillion) is a NON-STARTER. “Continuing resolution” is by default a temporary continuance of current funding. Democrats insisted on a “clean C.R.” 13 times during Biden’s presidency. Intentionally keeping the govt closed now — instead of keeping it open until Nov.21 — is futile to their cause. They are pushing for something now that isn’t expiring until Jan.1’2026. Senate Democrats are holding all Fed employees hostage.
And nobody should be getting free/subsidized health insurance. 6.5% of Americans are getting that “welfare insurance” instead of paying their own way. Your kids will pay for these freebie-recipients’ laziness. These 6.5% aren’t Medicare nor Medicaid people, they are others who COULD work & pay for their own insurance, but just won’t. Nobody is being denied “health care”. Health insurance is different. If people want it, they need to pay for it themself.
Alternative is for EVERY AMERICAN to pay $111,700, which is their portion of America’s debt. Then we’re free & clear to start the irresponsible borrowing all over again.
Finally, let it be known that Duffy isn’t threatening workers. He’s reminding them who’s boss. As a federal worker, I do NOT condone skipping work when we know we’re gonna get paid. I would never EVER want to have co-workers with that attitude. That’s the first sign of a truly horrible employee.
Want to stop the shutdown? Have all Senators forced into the main chambers and debate. Keep debating with only 5 minute bathroom breaks every hour and a 20 min. combined shower and/or bath break every 48 hours. After 24 -36 hours, there will be an agreement.
I would not work for free. That’s human trafficking. Call in sick and get a doctor’s note.
If you employ a person to do a job and they fraudulently call in sick or refuse to work, shouldn’t they be fired regardless of the circumstances? Sure. We fired over 11,000 under Regan, and we managed to figure it out. Maybe if the Democrats stop playing politics with finances and federal jobs, we could get them back to work. The Democrats are like a rudderless ship right now with weak to no leadership and it isn’t helping to solve this.
My best friend is a long-time ATC in a major ATC center, and the technology does still need improvement. However, many airports and ATC centers have moved from paper strips and are now fully electronic with newer systems.
@aj90x – that’s not what i wrote:
“Some striking air traffic controllers were re-hired in 1996, while the civil service ban was fully lifted by President Clinton during his first year in office.”
I’m I wasn’t being paid for my job, and there’s no indication of how long this might last, and the President says publicly that when a budget is finally passed that I might not get paid for the work that I did, I probably wouldn’t be very enthusiastic about showing up for work.
@Lindy — Nice Republican talking-points ya got there. For those, like yourself, who keep falling for this propaganda, the rest of us do expect you to keep blaming immigrants, trans people, or whatever other boogeymen you can think of for any and all problems. Demagogues always try this strategy to divide and distract from the real issues that actually affect us.
The truth is that this administration prioritized tax cuts for the super-rich (by using their once-per-year procedural exception through budget reconciliation, requiring just 50 votes in the Senate, as you are probably already well-aware). Now the Senate needs 60 votes to pass a budget, and the Republicans only have 53-ish votes in the Senate, so they need bi-partisan support for their bill. Instead of consulting or negotiating with Democrats, the Republicans put a forth a bad budget, which did not renew healthcare subsidies for Americans, therefore, without a better bill, nearly everyone’s health insurance premiums are likely about to skyrocket.
Healthcare is not a mere ‘if you want it’ kinda thing. It’s a human right. Other Western countries get this. Nearly all of them have some form of universal healthcare. Your position against this is cruel and unusual, and it shows your privilege that you think it’s merely an optional thing, like a nicer car or a larger home. Healthcare is literally life or death for people.
On fiscal policy, oh please, y’all don’t actually care about the debt or the deficit. If you did, you wouldn’t be spending giving tax cuts to the super-rich, or subsidizing corporations in oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, etc., in addition to spending countless billions on pet partisan projects, such as wrongfully militarizing law enforcement across the country, then using it against our own people (see LA, DC, Memphis, Portland, Chicago.)
This administration, Duffy included, is simply not acting in good faith. They are clearly threatening retaliation against these workers. That alone is shameful. We should never hold ATC or service members’ hostage financially during these debates over policy. That also should have been corrected in the 2019 legislation, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA), which guarantees furloughed government employees’ backpay.
This is what you sign up for when you take a federal government job. You know you will have to show up if you’re an essential worker during shutdowns. Don’t pretend like reminding them of this is obscene, it’s not. Oh, and btw, Dems voted for I believe 13 CRs under Biden and Obama, now suddenly it’s unacceptable to pass a CR while continuing negotiations? And all to ensure illegals get free healthcare? Ridiculous. Dems own this one.
Meanwhile, Trump stops yet another war. Yeah, very Hitler like.
Can anyone get the insane 1990 out of here? They/them is very obese to listen to.
@Mantis — Good morning from actual America (it’s a chilly one in NYC, at least, felt like 38 degrees at 6AM). I see it’s nearly your bedtime over in Asia. Thank you for continuing to pay your taxes, even as you are abroad, in accordance with our comprehensive tax policy, which includes taxes on worldwide income, regardless of where they live or earn their income. All of this is about as relevant to the topic at hand as your whataboutisms that also violate Godwin’s law. Eww.
You’re right about one thing: The Democrats do ‘own’ healthcare; and people tend to actually care about that issue, because it’s life and death. Fortunately for you, you probably aren’t on an American health insurance plan over in Asia (you’re likely in a country with universal healthcare, ironically, which serves all people, not just citizens), so you may not see any premiums increase.
If peace holds in the Middle East, as I told @Tim Dunn, I’ll nominate #47 to Oslo/Stockholm myself. Time will tell on that (but it’s very much a separate issue from this topic above.)
Too bad he can’t get Musk to install AI to replace the air traffic controllers. (sarcasm)
@France Gall — You can ignore or engage. Calls to ban others that you simply disagree with is… lame (and kinda… un-American.) If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. But, really, stay in the kitchen, get cookin’, stand up for yourself, speak your mind, even if it’s the opposite of my points. We wanna hear your thoughts, Mr. Gall. Cook us a nice Soufflé, sir France. Zut alors!