
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993                   TAG: 9309120276
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

AIR TRAFFIC

IT'S A symbolic gesture, more than anything, but appropriate for the Clinton administration to lift the ban on hiring air traffic controllers fired 12 years ago by former President Ronald Reagan.

The controllers, all members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association, went out on an illegal strike, demanding better computer equipment and training, a shorter work week and higher pay. Reagan issued an ultimatum to return to work; PATCO ignored it; Reagan fired the strikers. All 11,400 of them. PATCO was no more.

It was a forceful decision, and whether one agrees with it or not, there is no question that it was effective. Replacement workers were hired and trained, and as far as the public could tell, at least, the upheaval had no long-lasting detrimental effect on air safety. Today, the Federal Aviation Administration considers the air traffic control system to be fully staffed - though the union that succeeded PATCO disagrees. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has man

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by CNB