The story of NATCA began long before the Union’s 1987 election and Federal Labor Relations Authority certification. It began with NATCA’s founding father, John F. Thornton, a gifted and influential leader whose passion for representing the interests of the nation’s air traffic controllers began with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), and continued as a national organizer of NATCA.
“He gave this union the foundation on which to build, and he set the tone that NATCA was a different union with different goals,” said NATCA President Paul Rinaldi. “Without John Thornton, NATCA may never have existed.”