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