This paper examines the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike of 1981 and assesses its impact on labor relations in the federal sector. The author finds the root causes of the stoppage in the history of PATCO's relations with the Federal Aviation Administration, the equivocal manner in which the federal government had dealt with previous PATCO strikes, and the ineptness of PATCO's leaders. He argues that PATCO's basic goal was to gain the right to bargain under private sector rules, and that the union would have made considerable progress toward that goal if it had accepted the government's last offer in 1981. The author also describes the international aspects of the strike, including the strong steps taken by the Reagan administration to maintain transoceanic service.