Answer:
Americans believed that Reagan would take swift action if anyone challenged the government.
Explanation:
The year 1981 was Ronald Reagan's first in the White House. After the failed attack of mallet, the great opportunity to set guidelines for the Hollywood actor turned into a conservative leader was presented in the month of August. Just in the most intense moment of the summer travel season, almost 13,000 air traffic controllers left their jobs after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not accept their labor demands.
Represented by the Organization of Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO), that union created in 1968 had demanded an immediate increase of 10,000 dollars for each of its members, from salaries that three decades ago ranged between 20,000 and 49,000 dollars annual They also asked for better pensions and a reduction in working hours up to 32 hours of work per week. All these demands were 770 million dollars, compared to a counteroffer from the FAA of only 40 million dollars.
As a result of the strike that began on August 3, thousands of flights had to be canceled. Although for union frustration, the contingency plans worked. The government managed to resuscitate the air transport system with the help of 3,000 controllers with the category of supervisors, another 2,000 opposed to the strike and 900 military personnel. To the point of quickly achieving that 80% of passenger transport and almost all cargo flights could operate normally.
However, Reagan denounced as illegal the pulse of the controllers because of their status as public employees and raised an ultimatum: return to work within 48 hours or sudden termination. On August 5, the president complied with his warning and dismissed the more than 11,000 controllers who had ignored his orders. In addition, the federal Justice applied millionaire sanctions against the union of the controllers, chaired by Robert Poli, and the funds foreseen to prolong the strike were also blocked.
