Editing Ronald Reagan (section)

===Public sector labor union fights===
[[File:President Ronald Reagan making a statement to the press regarding the air traffic controllers strike.jpg|thumb|alt=Ronald Reagan speaks to the press in the Rose Garden about the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike.|Reagan making a statement to the press regarding the air traffic controllers strike, 1981]]

Early in August 1981, the [[Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968)|Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization]] (PATCO) [[1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike|went on strike]], violating a federal law prohibiting government unions from striking.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=85–86}} On August 3, Reagan said that he would fire air traffic controllers if they did not return to work within 48 hours; according to him, 38 percent did not return. On August 13, Reagan fired roughly 12,000 striking air traffic controllers who ignored his order.{{sfn|Pemberton|1998|p=107}} He used military controllers{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=158}} and supervisors to handle the nation's commercial air traffic until new controllers could be hired and trained.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=86}} The breaking of the PATCO strike demoralized organized labor, and the number of strikes fell greatly in the 1980s.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=158}} With the assent of Reagan's sympathetic [[National Labor Relations Board]] appointees, many companies also won wage and benefit cutbacks from unions, especially in the manufacturing sector.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=88}} During Reagan's presidency, the share of employees who were part of a labor union dropped from approximately one-fourth of the total workforce to approximately one-sixth of the total workforce.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=170}}