This Week in NATCA/Labor History
Tuesday, May 03, 2011



THIS WEEK IN NATCA/ATC/AVIATION HISTORY:

May 1, 1989 — NATCA’s first contract: NATCA President Steve Bell and acting FAA Administrator Robert E. Whittington sign the union’s first collective bargaining agreement, which takes effect immediately.

May 1, 1991 — Safety inspectors organize: A majority of aviation safety inspectors vote to organize as a bargaining unit within the Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS). On May 10, PASS is certified as the representative for the 1,913 previously non-unionized FAA workers.

May 1, 1995 — NATCA Scholarship Program: The union starts a program to award five $2,000 scholarships annually. May 1 is the deadline for children of active members to submit a 500-word essay. NATCA subsequently announces the inaugural winners to be: Karen Blittersdorf, New England; Margaret L. Bullard, Great Lakes; Melissa Lee Hambrick, Western-Pacific; Laura Caroline Hightower, Southwestern; and Brandy L. Smith, Southwestern. Chalmer Detling is recognized for best essay.

May 1-2, 1996 — NATCA Lobby Week: Twenty-four participants attend a “mini” Lobby Week.



THIS WEEK IN LABOR HISTORY:

1930:
Pres. Herbert Hoover declares that the stock market crash six months earlier was just a "temporary setback" and the economy would soon bounce back. In fact the Great Depresssion was to continue and worsen for several more years.

1931: New York City’s Empire State Building officially opens. Construction involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, and hundreds of Mohawk iron workers. Five workers died during construction.

1974: Congress enacts amendments to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, extending protections to the employees of state and local governments – protections which didn’t take effect until 1985 because of court challenges and regulation-writing problems.

1974: The Federal minimum wage rises to $2.00 per hour.