I am friends with the man who was president of PATCO during the strike. He has told me that he met with Reagan while Reagan was running for president. Reagan told him that he knew PATCO's contract was coming up and that he saw no problems with it and would write a letter as such if he could have PATCO's endorsement, which my friend gave.
My friend knew there was a problem when he set down with the Sec. of Transportation and the Sec. said he knew nothing of the letter and saw no reason to honor it.
My friend said PATCO didn't want to strike but were pushed hard in that direction. He said his organization kept taking national membership votes on it and even though there were enough in favor of it to strike, he held off. Finally, they went on strike. Once on strike, the said the Reagan administration wouldn't let them stop the strike. Finally, PATCO was beaten and all of their funding confiscated. My friend was blackballed through administration intimidation so he never worked in a union again.
Years later, the Sec. of Transportation from that time called him and they went out for dinner. The Sec. wanted to come clean about what happened. He said that the Reagan administration came in to office to bust unions, so it picked the most visible and vulnerable and set them up. The Sec. said that they pushed PATCO to strike intentionally and that they then wire taped all of the pre-strike and strike conversations so they knew vote #'s, strategies, decisions, etc. The Sec. said that PATCO could have won if they had struck immediately because the substitute air traffic controllers that were being secretly training on an air force base wouldn't have been ready. The striking a.tr. controllers were banned from ever working for the federal government or as a.tr. controllers for the rest of their lives. Years later, the ban was lifted for working for the gov't., but not for being a. tr. controllers.
This was the first bust of a union and the rest retreated in fear. The movement has never recovered.
I am grateful that organizations such as yours exist to tell the truth which isn't being covered by corporate media.
One thing is for sure: these rich fascists will not rest until they own everything (no, labeling the Kochs & their ilk "fascists" isn't "name calling;" fascism is the merger of corporate and state interests, which is exactly what we're seeing today in America).
Well stated, I thought I was the only one still reading C. Wright Mills and William Domhoff. Where are the moderate voices of the Power Elite /Ruling Class on this issue, are they silent because they have withered away during these last 30 years? The agreement was that unions would be used to marginalize radicalism within labor, because the Power elite, wished: 1) stability for profit extraction, 2) a bigger government- so that agencies could be co-opted more easily, and 3) to blunt socialistic and more radical movements. Are they really that sure they have won the day?
My law practice consists mainly of bankruptcies and foreclosures and I deal with the various banks on a daily basis to assist my clients who are in foreclosure. Sometimes the homeowner wants the bank to modify her loan; sometimes just to give the home back to the bank and be relieved of the mortgage obligation.
From my experience, generally, banks are less than cooperative when it comes to negotiating directly with the homowner. That is why I assist my clients to request an in court mediation after they go into foreclosure. Here the negotiations are done in-court instead of directly between the homeowner and the bank. Also, the attorneys for the homeowner works directly with the attorney for the bank. I have found this procees much less cumbersome and more successful. From my experience, most states have some form of foreclosure mediation program. I would advise homeowners in foreclosure to check this out.
Dear Fazsha:
I don't think this is a partisan issue or that Dems "only defend people who work for the government and never those who pay for government to exist" or the Rs do the opposite. The Center has been deeply critical of the Obama Administration and we have been deeply critical of the new Walker Administration on some issues.
I think that there is, however, an unfortunate effort by some of the wealthiest interests in this country to try to pit working people against each other by blaming government for Wall Street's destruction of the economy in order to shift focus away from the culture of greed.
My law practice consists mainly of bankruptcies and foreclosures and I deal with the various banks on a daily basis to assist my clients who are in foreclosure. Sometimes the homeowner wants the bank to modify her loan; sometimes just to give the home back to the bank and be relieved of the mortgage obligation.
From my experience, generally, banks are less than cooperative when it comes to negotiating directly with the homowner. That is why I assist my clients to request an in court mediation after they go into foreclosure. Here the negotiations are done in-court instead of directly between the homeowner and the bank. Also, the attorneys for the homeowner works directly with the attorney for the bank. I have found this procees much less cumbersome and more successful. From my experience, most states have some form of foreclosure mediation program. I would advise homeowners in foreclosure to check this out.
Pages