Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The Reagan Legacy Continues...
...at an airport in Lexington, KY. Remember PATCO? It was one of the first harbingers of the coups when Ronnie was able to bust the union. Since then, 16 hour shifts, amphetamines, caffeine, and a general mood of "tow the line or else" has been the norm in control towers coast to coast.
Yes, those greedy PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers) unionites wanted a larger piece of a pie that at the time was controlled by tariffs and regulations. I'm sure that the folks pulling the strings on the Puppet President were aware that with deregulation, this vital cog in the infrastructure of air travel would become too big for it's britches, and demand even more of the loot that was soon to be raked in after deregulation.
We won't even begin to discuss physical infrastructure, vis a vis unlit runways at small regional airfields sharing space betwixt commercial jets and itty-bitty lil' single engine yupcrafts. Reminds me of how the bizness community has parked itself on the internet...
So, this 17 year veteran of Air Traffic Control had his back turned as he was doing "administrative duties" (a traffic count... gotta justify that bottom line) that would NEVER have been performed by a professional in a union-defined role. But that can have a deleterious effect on corporate profits (heavens forbid!!!). Instead, we'll just have to settle for the acceptable level of collateral damage: the worst air accident in the US since November 2001,when the Navy accidentally shot down, er, um, sorry, when the AA Jet went down after takeoff from JFK...
Yes, those greedy PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers) unionites wanted a larger piece of a pie that at the time was controlled by tariffs and regulations. I'm sure that the folks pulling the strings on the Puppet President were aware that with deregulation, this vital cog in the infrastructure of air travel would become too big for it's britches, and demand even more of the loot that was soon to be raked in after deregulation.
We won't even begin to discuss physical infrastructure, vis a vis unlit runways at small regional airfields sharing space betwixt commercial jets and itty-bitty lil' single engine yupcrafts. Reminds me of how the bizness community has parked itself on the internet...
So, this 17 year veteran of Air Traffic Control had his back turned as he was doing "administrative duties" (a traffic count... gotta justify that bottom line) that would NEVER have been performed by a professional in a union-defined role. But that can have a deleterious effect on corporate profits (heavens forbid!!!). Instead, we'll just have to settle for the acceptable level of collateral damage: the worst air accident in the US since November 2001,
