Journal article
Air Traffic Controllers: A Prototype of Tomorrow's Information-Processing Blue-Collarites
Current Research on Occupations and Professions, Vol.5, pp.3-28
01 Jan 1990
Abstract
The evolution & future of the "brainy" blue-collar occupational role, as typified by the air traffic controller (ATC), are examined. Though viewed as mild-mannered & inconsequential technicians, ATCs are emerging as a labor force. Their evolution is traced from concerns over hardware adequacy & the creation of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) to the 1981 ATC strike & the decertification to reunionization as the PATCO. The ATC & other similar information-processing technicians are highly intelligent blue-collar workers who do not respond well to old-fashioned methods of labor management. They tend toward militancy in pursuing their labor goals & shun alliances with other trade groups that might dissipate their achievement. They are skeptical of high technology & artificial intelligence innovation replacing their work. Labor relations with such occupational groups will prove challenging in the future. 35 References. D. Generoli
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Details
- Title
- Air Traffic Controllers: A Prototype of Tomorrow's Information-Processing Blue-Collarites
- Creators
- Arthur Shostak
- Publication Details
- Current Research on Occupations and Professions, Vol.5, pp.3-28
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Sociology; Culture and Communication [Historical]
- Identifiers
- 991020705369904721