natca history

On this day in 1985, NATCA’s logo was adopted during one of our Union’s initial organizing meetings. 40 years later, we still use the same logo! The origins of the logo trace back to 1984, when […]

In May 1989, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) celebrated the ratification of their first collective bargaining agreement. This landmark contract, approved by a decisive 84 percent of union […]

On Sept. 23-24, 1986, 72 delegates attended NATCA’s founding convention in Chicago including provisional representatives from each of the FAA’s nine regions. John Thornton, the founding father of NATCA, announced that NATCA had collected more than […]

NATCA is marking a notable anniversary: Ten years ago, on Feb. 14, 2012, President Obama signed H.R. 658, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. It was the final step in making FAA Reauthorization a […]

(From the NATCA archives, “NATCA News,” October 1993) NATCA Lobby Week (1993) in Review Controllers Converge Upon Capitol Hill To Discuss NATCA’s Legislative AgendaRepresentatives Register Their Support for HR 2663 NATCA Lobby Week, by all estimates, […]

During NATCA’s early years, organizers John Thornton and Howie Barte found funding for the controllers’ organizing efforts after initial support and money from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) was exhausted by late 1985.

In October 1985, Marine Engineers Beneficial Association President Gene DeFries called Barte to say MEBA would fund them. While this relationship would define the organization for the rest of the 1980s, the Union was ready for a change by the 1990s.