Originally Posted by
FLINHI
The shortage is due to a thing called the PATCO strike of 1981. The 13,000 member strong ATC union had a few demands for president Reagan, the major being better working conditions. Anyways they decided to strike, well about 11,000 of them did anyways. Reagan threatened to fire them, which he did, two day later. Long story short, the "replacements" are all up for retirement now and over the next few years. Therefore the FAA is going to have to replace a lot of jobs over the next 5 years or so.
Yes, virtually the entire current workforce was hired in the few years following the 1981 strike. Very little hiring was done from the late 80's on. Controllers hired in that era will be retiring in the next few years.
I always believed the FAA postponed hiring all these years, because the evolution of GPS/TCAS would allow a reduction in enroute center controllers. But that hasn't come to pass, and doesn't look as if it is on the near horizon either.