Worker Salaries

I wonder if the shipyard worker in Portland who heckled George Bush, complaining that his pay went from $13.60 per hour to $9.50, ever considered that perhaps it was because he wasn’t worth $13.60 per hour to his employer? (Part I, Sept. 7.)

A case in point is the exorbitant $23 to $25 per hour wages negotiated by aggressive union leaders for the auto and steel workers some years back--an action which almost drove both industries out of business. Of course, in that case, management must share the blame because they caved in to the ever-escalating wage and benefit demands; possibly because they were able to vote themselves huge salary and bonus raises.

GEORGE H. McCUTCHEON

Los Angeles