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Dear Readers,
As this is being written, around the nation telephone workers
from several companies are presently on strike. This in
itself is not so terrible. Strikes, work stoppages and
job actions happen frequently in our day and age, and some are
necessary. But there is something attatched to this one that
makes me, and many others very angry. Intentional vandalism.
Telephone lines and switch boxes have been cut, torched and
smashed causing thousands of telephone users to loose service.
Some people must have their telephones in proper working order
for medical purposes, others for business. To a lesser extent
we ALL need those phones working. They have become a
necessary instrument of our modern daily lives.
Phone company employees deny they are responsible for these
actions. Yet, the way the vandalism was perpetrated signals
an inside knowledge of how the telephone system works. Do you
know where the major trunk lines are located? Do you know
which switching stations would cause the most disruption of
service if damaged? I believe the answer is no. But, those
who work with these systems day in and day out know.
I don't know what these people think they will achieve by
these actions. If they are out to win public support for
their causes they have surely failed. The public has lost
respect for these men and women, even if their grievences are
just. They will not be able to win back public support unless
they themselves turn in the guilty parties.
Coal miners shoot people and damage property and consider it a
justifiable method to win contract agreements. Truckers tie
up traffic on our busiest highways for the same reason.
Perhaps we should all follow their examples and do the same
each time we have a problem with our employers. Forget
enemies foreign, we have domestic enemies and that is a much
closer, and more dangerous threat.
These acts of vandalism and violence wherever they occur and
for whatever reason must stop.
It is not in the interest of the striking parties to allow or
condone these actions. Moreover, the public must take a stand
to let these forces know that we will not stand for it either.
It is a fact not to be forgotten that without Union pressure
we might not have our 40 hour work week, nor most of the
benefits that each and every one of us enjoys on the job
today. There was, and still is a need for unionized labor,
but not when that labor force feels it is necessary to allow
acts of violence and vandalism. We suffer. They do not.
This is not fair.
Jeff Green, Editor