Collision Course

"No strike in American history unfolded more visibly before the eyes of the American people…than the PATCO [Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization] strike," writes McCartin (history, Georgetown Univ.; Labor's Great War) of the 1981 nationwide walkout of air traffic controllers, a signal event of the Reagan administration. The President fired the controllers, broke the strike, and, in doing so, "decisively altered the course of U.S. labor relations." In this deeply researched history, McCartin shows what was less visible as well—the issues that originally led the controllers to organize in 1968; the accumulated grievances that produced the militancy of 1981, and the negotiations of that year, in which (contrary to legend) Reagan authorized concessions beyond the law; and the strike's long aftereffect, which, McCartin argues, has had its most devastating impact on private-sector management-labor relations.