Ronald Reagan has been heralded a lot lately.

The Teamsters supported him the first time. He turned his back to the Lincoln stance on labor unions - "when they go on strike it's because they have good reason."

Air traffic controllers have been the subject of a lot of talk in Central Kentucky. Would enough eyes be on the air and ground if it was a better - union - job?

Traffic Controllers Declare Staffing Emergency at Four Airports
from AFL-CIO Weblog by Mike Hall

The staffing crisis in the nation's air traffic control system is so severe and the potential for a serious accident climbing so rapidly that the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) today declared a staffing emergency covering airspace surrounding Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Southern California, four areas of the country with some the busiest airspace in the world.

NATCA says the emergency declaration means that controllers do not have sufficient numbers of trained and experienced personnel on the ground to safely handle the volume of traffic in the air and at major airports.

Last year, 10 percent of controller workforce left the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the union says by Feb. 3, 500 controllers will have retired already this fiscal year, with 2,200 more controllers able to retire by year’s end.