Clinton Lifts Ban on Fired Air Controllers : Labor: Overturning of 1981 Reagan action against strikers fulfills campaign pledge. O.C. controllers applaud decision.

In a gesture meant to signify the end of 12 years of hostility between government and organized labor, President Clinton on Thursday lifted the ban on hiring air traffic controllers fired by President Ronald Reagan when they joined an illegal strike.

The long-anticipated announcement enabled Clinton to keep a campaign pledge by overturning the controversial 1981 action, which heralded a more confrontational era between unions and government under Presidents Reagan and George Bush.

“We need strong, cooperative relationships between management and labor in this country,” said Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich, announcing Clinton’s action. “This decision demonstrates how important changing the tenor of those relationships is to this Administration.”

In Orange County, air traffic controllers applauded Clinton’s decision, but some controllers said it will be difficult for anyone away from the profession for 12 years to return without extensive training.

“It depends on the facility,” said Marie Cusenza, the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. shift manager at Coast TRACON, the radar facility at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that controls approaches to John Wayne Airport and other airfields in Southern California. “Some low-level facilities have changed very little over the years. . . . But it’s a long time to be off.”

Clinton’s action was welcome news for two ex-PATCO strikers in Orange County who said they now hope to return to work for the Federal Aviation Administration.

“I work with seven or eight other controllers who will definitely be interested in this,” said Jerry Kwock, a military aircraft controller at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center. “A lot of us still want to do it.”

Darrel Hensley, one of Kwock’s partners in the tower at Los Alamitos, said: “I think this is long overdue. We were waiting a long time for it. . . . I’m definitely going to take a look at it.”

The immediate impact of the move is more symbolic than substantive. The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed a hiring freeze and does not plan to begin employing new controllers until next year. In addition, the number of such openings over the next decade is expected to be low. Nevertheless, union officials applauded the action.

“President Clinton has ended a sorry chapter in U.S. employment history and has charted a new path for the workplace of the future,” AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland said.

Officials were unsure how many of the 11,400 fired controllers, most of whom moved on to other careers, would seek re-employment with the FAA. The National Air Traffic Controllers Assn., the union that now represents controllers and supports the Clinton decision, said the number could be as high as 3,000.

That figure was echoed by Bill Taylor, a former controller who keeps in touch with about 2,000 of his displaced colleagues through a phone hot line and a newsletter.

“This is not just a job, it’s a profession and we can’t practice our profession anywhere else,” said Taylor, 50, who now works as an addiction counselor here. “It’s like taking a nurse or a doctor out of their profession.”

Taylor said a number of former controllers would be interested in resuming their careers to put in the years necessary to become eligible for government pensions.

But Gary Eads, the last president of the now-defunct Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, which organized the strike, said he doubts many would want to return to airport control towers.

“It’s good news as far as getting that pall lifted off the people,” said Eads, 49, who now owns a print shop in Woodbridge, Va. “But I don’t think a significant number will go back.”

The FAA, which employs 17,728 controllers, said it plans to begin hiring about 200 controllers a year for several years beginning in 1994. The openings are slow to occur because 80% of the current work force was hired after 1981. The agency does not expect significant numbers of retirements until 2006.

Those who lost their jobs in 1981 would have to compete with newly trained applicants for those positions, FAA officials said.

The Reagan firings followed a decade of demands by PATCO that the FAA improve computer equipment and training, raise benefits to compensate for stress, cut the workweek and increase salaries.

On Aug. 3, 1981, PATCO called on its 14,000 members to strike, an action prohibited by law for federal workers. Reagan quickly issued a back-to-work ultimatum. It was ignored by the union and two days later the government began sending out firing notices.

Even after the FAA had replaced most of the fired controllers with newly trained recruits, successfully breaking the union, those who struck were barred from taking any job with the FAA.

Many of the fired controllers later said they regretted striking and missed working in a profession that had been a source of pride. Some continued to work as air traffic controllers at private airstrips or in foreign countries and others stayed close to the industry by taking jobs with private airlines. But most were forced to find work in other fields.

After Thursday’s announcement, the FAA installed a toll-free number, 800-960-0600, to answer questions from former controllers interested in applying for controller and other FAA jobs.

Some of PATCO’s primary complaints are being echoed today by the union that replaced it. Spokesman Jeff Beddow said that, although the number of controllers has risen overall, there are about 1,500 fewer full-performance controllers today than there were before the strike, while air traffic has risen 28%. A full-performance controller is trained for every job in the control tower.

“We feel workplace conditions are not what they should be,” Beddow said. “A lot of the equipment dates back to the 1950s.”

Beddow was quick to add, however, that his union will not consider a strike.