Forty-five years ago this week: “It’s the old Nixon reaction as far as I’m concerned. He thinks he’s the Great God Almighty and can do no wrong … in the eyes of the public,” said Zelda Bransted, spokesman of the Colorado AFL-CIO. “I sincerely hope it backfires.”

Bransted made the comment in response to President Ronald Reagan’s reaction to the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike. 

“They took an oath in writing they would not strike. I think it’s a case of firing. I think they quit,” President Reagan said of the strikers.

PATCO members went on strike in order to gain reductions from a 40-hour work week to 32 hours due to the stress of the job and an increased pay ceiling from $44,700 to $59,000.

“Government employees should have the right to strike,” Bransted said. “We have rapists and murderers on the streets who only get a slap on the hand. Here we have people fighting for the basic principles and freedoms upon which this nation was founded and they are getting throw in jail.”

Charles W. Carter, national vice president of American Federation of Government Employees District 13 (Colorado), said, “In England, when government employees strike, it’s called a labor dispute. In Poland, government employees who strike are called patriots. In America workers who strike against the government are called criminals. Which country is the true democracy?”

The president of the Denver Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Clair Dernbach, also agreed and added that, “They (PATCO) would not be on strike if circumstances were not bad. The government is not there to dictate. It is the right of citizens to see that their needs are heard.”

FAA supervisors and military flight controllers temporarily took over the positions of the striking controllers and the number of flights had been reduced. 

“The military controllers do not put a plane down every 60 seconds as is often demanded in control towers,” Carter said. “The strike is not going to help the image of the unions. We’re portrayed as the bad guy. Right-wingers capitalize on this and say too much union power is dangerous.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ray Kogosvek, 3rd CD, said he did not support threats to the strikers but preferred fines instead. However, he believed that the present fines assessed to the union were excessive and constituted an attempt at union busting. 

Twenty-five Years Ago: A Denver Post voter survey confirmed what many in the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee believed, that U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard was vulnerable to a Democratic challenge. 

Tom Strickland, former U.S. attorney who was Allard’s 1996 opponent, had reemerged as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination and announced his candidacy at Standley Park Reservoir in Westminster as a part of a three-day swing through Colorado. 

Republicans had controlled the Senate seat held by Allard for 22 years and when Strickland lost to Allard by 70,000 votes in 1996, the race cost $5 million. Allard’s campaign filings indicated $1 million in his war chest and President Bush announced that he would headline a fundraiser in mid-August to support Allard. 

In 1996, Strickland blamed his loss on a 106,000-person Republican-registration advantage, but nothing had improved in Strickland’s favor; Republicans in 2001 had a 168,000-voter edge over Democrats. Strickland also faced low name recognition and was unknown to 38 % of voters in the Denver Post poll. 

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels, including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in political science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette, and The Denver Gazette.