44 years ago today, August 6, 1981 (July 7, 1981 in the lunar calendar), U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike. Patco's staff fired by Reagan On August 6, 1981, President Reagan fired 12,000 federal aviation managers because their three-day strike grounded about half of the more than 14,000 flights a day. Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis said: "In my opinion, this is not a strike situation. This is over. What we care about is re-establishing the system. Despite federal judge Harold Green ordering staff to return to work and fines him $1000 a day for disobeying orders, officials at these airports still held the meeting. By sacking airport managers who participated in the strike, the government successfully quelled the largest strike by federal employees since the strike of 167000 postal workers in 1970. In defiance of the judge's order and the union chairman's insistence that they return to work, officials from Pateco, a union organization representing airport managers, once said that the government would eventually reach an agreement with them on the following issues: "higher wages, shorter working weeks, and retirement after 20 years of work regardless of age." Without us, the transportation system would be paralyzed, and they know that." A union official said,"The airport control tower is in chaos now." But a spokesman for the FAA, which employs airport managers, dismissed widespread claims that the airport's command tower was in chaos, saying professionals were working.