Review by R. Alan Clanton
Thursday Review Editor
A seasoned writer about labor and workers’ issues, McCartin gives readers the most detailed and balanced account yet of the infamous 1981 air traffic controllers strike and their head-on struggle with a newly elected President Ronald Reagan—a confrontation which permanently altered the template for labor groups and unions. Reagan’s firing of the controllers after a prolonged period of negotiation, demands and counter-demands showed Reagan to be a man of mettle among conservatives and the business community, but the events also set in motion the beginning a long period of decline in the power and prestige of unions. The confrontation also brought to the forefront the long-dormant issue of government workers and their right to strike, a controversy which is again more relevant than ever in the context of state employee unions in Wisconsin and the recent teachers’ strike in New York City. Highly readable, this book moves quickly through a history of the development of PATCO, the discussions and meetings between top controller officials along the way toward the strike, and conversations held inside the White House as the crisis loomed. This is an important chapter in the early Reagan administration. (Oxford University Press; Oxford, UK & New York City)
