My father-in-law died about 11 years ago.  He was a good man, his biggest vice in life being that he couldn’t quit smoking, and that ultimately led to his last years being painful for him and his family.

We seldom if ever discussed politics.  He was a hard-sown man, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. I was (and remain) anything but a Democrat, so I knew to mind my place and keep politics out of discussions.

He worked in a number of jobs that had in the grocers union in NYC and Long Island  - the UFCW.  So his politics and views were easy to discern.

On one such occasion I discussed politics with him dealt with unions, and Ronald Reagan.  As you might imagine, he had little to say in absolute favor of President Reagan.   He would not disparage the man, out of respect for the office, but he thought he was a crazy actor, that he favored the rich too much, etc.

The one area he had a very specific opinion about Ronald Reagan was that PATCO union strike.   The union covering the Air Traffic Controllers at all commercial airports walked off the job.

My FIL had this to say: Ronald Reagan was wrong because he waited too long to fire them!  Their union negotiated a contract, and they were supposed to live up to their end of the deal.  They promised never to strike, and so they deserved to be fired.

He also questioned why the ATC were unionized at all, because they were (in his estimations) public servants, and no public servants should be unioninzed.

The way the union members and their thugs carried on this last month would have made my FIL sad, I believe.  Not that they should protest, but their utter disrespect for the Wisconsin capital, for their utter disrespect for their public service, and for the contempt they’ve shown.