Word: patco
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After neither side budged during 2½ months of fruitless talks, Poli said on May 22 that his members would walk out a month later if there were no "acceptable" Government proposal by then. The Administration responded by sending Secretary Lewis to replace Helms, whom the PATCO negotiators considered hopelessly rigid, as its chief bargainer...
Poli, however, knew he did not have 80% of all controllers behind him to win a strike vote, as required by PATCO's rules...
After eleventh-hour dickering, he gained extra retraining benefits for medically disqualified controllers and time-and-a-half pay after 36 hours, though the work week remained at 40 hours. With that, PATCO negotiators called off the strike and put the settlement up for a vote. It was rejected by 95% of PATCO's members...
...even refusing the offer of a public relations firm to help him get his union's story across to the public. Said one labor insider about Poli: "He may be a good traffic controller, but he is over his head as an administrator and political strategist." A former PATCO official said acidly of Poli: "He's taking his members on a trip to Jonestown with a few gallons of Kool...
...doubts, however, seemed much in the minority. At a noisy PATCO rally in Hollis, N.H.,* Controller Joe Gannon, 39, noted the nonstrike oath he had taken but observed: "I have a much higher oath. I could not bring myself to the position of handling all those aircraft under the stresses I was being subjected to, knowing that I was affecting hundreds of lives. I had a moral obligation." Picketing at New York's J.F.K. Airport, Pat Hagen, 36, said firmly: "Some of us may go to jail. I don't think I'd be normal if I wasn't frightened...