Letter: Extreme protest is last resort
Saturday, September 17, 2011
I would agree with Lou Brancaccio’s Sept. 10 Press Talk column, the Longshoremen are conducting themselves as “thugs.” But it is a sad state of affairs that they have to resort to “thuggery” when dealing with a multinational conglomerate, EGT Development. Who can blame them for wanting to protect their jobs in this economy? EGT is blatantly stealing away their coveted family-wage-earning jobs.
It is a sad state of affairs that EGT uses subsidies to operate on public port property. It is a sad state of affairs that EGT is benefiting from Washington state tax breaks and acknowledges the generosity of the taxed citizens by avoiding to pay good family-supporting wages. EGT is not beholding to the spirit in which all the subsidies were so generously granted. EGT is conducting business more like a common thief.
The Longshoremen are your neighbors, veterans, parents, tax-paying citizens … all of them. It is a sad state of affairs that they have to resort to “thuggery,” but they are dealing with a behemoth, multinational thief in EGT. EGT could stand for “Every Good Taxbreak.”
Susan Rasmussen
La Center
