1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike

The PATCO Strike of 1981 was a union-organized work stoppage by air traffic controllers (ATCs) in the United States. Following a decade of successful strikes in other industries, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) declared a strike on August 3, 1981, demanding higher wages and more benefits. Despite 13,000 ATCs striking, the strike ultimately failed, as the Reagan administration was quickly able to replace the striking ATCs, resulting in PATCO's decertification.

The failure of the PATCO strike impacted the American labor movement, accelerating the decline in labor unions in the country, and initiating a much more aggressive anti-union policy by the federal government and private sector employers.^[1]