How U.S. Unions Took Flight

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hot Labor Summer has continued into fall as workers in industries from retail and carmaking to healthcare and Hollywood have organized and gone on strike. Public support for the U.S. labor movement is close to the highest it's been in 60 years. And that's no surprise to people who work in one particular industry: the airlines.

Airline workers — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, baggage handlers, and more — represent a huge cross-section of the country. And for decades, they've used their unions to fight not just for better working conditions, but for civil rights, charting a course that leads right up to today. In this episode, we turn an eye to the sky to see how American unions took flight.

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Transcript

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0:26.5	August 3rd 1981, President Ronald Reagan is holding a press conference in the Rose Garden.
0:32.3	This morning at 7 a.m.
0:34.0	the union representing those who man America's air traffic
0:37.8	control facilities call to strike.
0:40.1	About 13,000 air traffic controllers, federal employees who make sure planes take off fly and land safely, had walked off the job, calling for better wages and work hours.
0:51.6	The president wasn't happy about it. And if they do not report for
0:56.3	work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.
1:02.0	President Reagan kept his word.
1:04.0	Two days later, he broke the strike by firing 11,000 striking employees
1:10.0	and replaced them with non-union workers.
1:12.0	It was a huge moment. and replace them with non-union workers.
1:12.8	It was a huge moment.
1:14.5	A clear signal to America and American businesses.
1:18.3	Unions and strikers are not working-class heroes
1:21.7	whose footsteps should be followed.
1:24.0	They're troublemakers, and you don't have to stand for it.
1:27.6	Reagan's power moves started a cascade.
	...

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