

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
