Yes, you sign an oath not to undermine the US gov when you are hired. He fired their butts when they refused to go back to work when he ordered them to. My friend did go back,and was not fired. She is still an ATC and makes lots of money. Ronald Reagan played hardball because they were undermining the safety,and well being of everyone involved with the Airlines. Their union Patco blew it big time,and they did not care. They screwed over a lot of people,and changed peoples lives forever in a negative way.
What's always been very interesting to me is that when you hear the media talk about these fired PATCO workers, they conveniently leave out what happened to the union leaders who encouraged the strike. Is that lying by omission? LOL