COLLISION COURSE: PATCO, REAGAN, AND THE STRIKE THAT CHANGED AMERICA - Collision Course takes viewers inside the infamous air traffic controllers strike of 1981, when nearly 12,000 members of their union, PATCO, walked the picket line in defiance of President Reagan’s order to return to work. When most did not go back, Reagan fired them en masse and crushed their union, PATCO, with disastrous outcomes for our country that no one was prepared for.
The resulting decline of unions and the economic inequalities still shape American life today. As unions have lost power, wages have stagnated, and millions of workers have lost a meaningful voice in the decisions that govern their lives. Federal employees face renewed attacks on their jobs and institutions. The gig economy has normalized insecurity, while artificial intelligence threatens a radical transformation of work. An entire generation has come of age with no memory of a time when unions helped build the middle class and set the direction of the country.
Yet workers are searching for ways to act together. Public support for unions has rebounded and organizing is taking hold in industries once considered untouchable. The labor movement has an opening to move from defense to possibility—to show a new generation not only what was lost, but what organized workers can build again.
Collision Course meets this moment by returning to the strike that changed the balance of power. The ‘81 strikers confronted a system that relied on outdated equipment, punishing schedules, and chronic understaffing to keep millions of passengers safe. They believed the public would see that their fight was also a fight for the integrity of the nation’s aviation system. The public heard a different story. Reagan portrayed them as privileged workers, breaking the law and disrupting Americans’ summer travel for personal gain. PATCO had not built the alliances, public narrative, or shared strategy it needed to withstand that attack. Other unions offered sympathy but little solidarity. Reagan’s firing of the strikers gave employers a green light to go on the offensive against unions nation-wide, leading to decades or erosion in worker power.
Collision Course is neither a simple celebration of union power nor an excuse for the administration’s devastating response. It is an urgent examination of what workers need in order to win: preparation, solidarity within and across unions, a clear understanding of their opposition, and a case rooted in the public’s interest.
(1 hr 23m, 2026, Director: Danny Alpert) + Director Q&A with Special Guests
Part of the Workers Unite Film Festival.