On this day, August 5, 1981,

U.S. President Reagan fired 11,345 striking air-traffic controllers.  Two days earlier, after months of frustrating and futile negotiations with the federal government, the air-traffic controllers union went on strike to raise wages and improve working conditions. When the strike began, almost 13,000 air-traffic controllers did not show up to work, forcing over 7,000 flights to be canceled.  That same day, President Reagan condemned the strike illegal under U.S. law, which banned strikes by government unions.  He threatened to fire any air controller who did not return to work within 48 hours. True to his word, Reagan fired the more than 11,000 workers who resisted his threats, and declared a ban on the rehiring of the strikers.  The ban was later  lifted, but it reminds me how it's the job of citizens to fiercely guard our own rights, which in this case is our right to organize.