‘Mischief in Sacramento’

Your editorial, (May 19), “Mischief in Sacramento,” opposes AB 1935, which was introduced by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica). This bill would prohibit the investment of state pension funds in American corporations with operations in Northern Ireland that do not adopt the MacBride Principles of Fair Employment.

In the years since the British government enacted the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act in 1976, the employment data has remained unchanged. Unemployment among Nationalists is double that among Unionists. Ninety-five percent of management and supervisory jobs are held by Unionists. The Anglo-Irish agreement that gave the Republic a consultative role in the governing of Northern Ireland has not reduced job discrimination against Nationalists. It has produced increased violence, particularly among Unionists.

Two dozen American firms, including General Motors and the Ford Motor Co., in their failure to subscribe to a Fair Employment code, are, in effect, supporting job discrimination.

AB 1935 is not illegal according to British law, nor will it cause a loss of jobs. The MacBride Principles are supported by the prime minister of Ireland, Charles Haughey; Cardinal Thomas O’Fiaich of Armagh, Northern Ireland; and the vast majority of the minority in Northern Ireland, including the majority of the membership and executive board of the Social Democratic Labor Party--the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland. AB 1935 must go to the floor and be passed by both the Assembly and the Senate.

It seems uncharacteristic for the fair-minded Times to oppose fair employment legislation.

ROBERT E. FORD

La Mesa