Safety in the Air

I can’t remember ever having been so revolted as I felt after reading Sylvie Drake’s article. . . . After opening with the disclaimer that she is not a “gleeful crosser of picket lines” and was in “considerable sympathy” for the striking flight attendants who faced a 22% salary cut and were fighting to concede only 18% of their paychecks, your presumably sophisticated theater critic went into a panegyric extolling the group of “understudies”--her euphemism for scabs.

As described in the article, the “understudies” were retired flight attendants who were “thrilled to be recalled to work.” Apparently, these unprincipled people were unconcerned about the terrible effect of their contemptible role upon the young people they were displacing. As a retired worker, I was especially distressed to read of retired workers allowing themselves to be used as scabs to undermine the lives of other workers.

ESTHER FREEMAN

Granada Hills