In Their World, Strength Is a Weighty Issue

In “The Last Stand” (by Bill Sharpsteen, Jan. 24), the portrayal of men not wanting women on the waterfront is not true. We just don’t want them to take jobs they can’t handle.

There are two issues here; one is safety. I once had a woman in her 50s, new to the union, drop a 60-pound lashing bar on top of me because she couldn’t handle the weight. Fortunately, I was able to block it with my arm or I might not be here today.

The second is production. The average woman is not as strong as the average man, and on the waterfront you are teamed with a partner. If your sidekick can’t do the backbreaking work that often needs to be done, who do you think has to pick up the slack and work twice as hard?

Brian Muir

Long Beach

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I was a candidate for longshore work and passed four of the six tests. (Many of the men, incidentally, failed the written tests.) The lashing test was the end of my quest, but at 4-foot-11 and 105 pounds, there was no way I could pass--something I realized when a longshoreman told me they “hate women down here” just before I was to start the test. Not exactly a confidence booster.

I applaud Connie Chaney for continuing to fight for her rights and to Deborah Golden for her ongoing litigation in support of the Golden Decree. Fight on!

Julie Pate

Culver City

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My husband is a longshoreman, and though I consider it a man’s industry, I have many women friends working on the docks, women who seem to enjoy their jobs and are not subjected to the type of treatment Chaney complained about. Of course, a handful of men act poorly, but what workplace in America isn’t populated by at least a few jerks?

Chaney was much too quick to criticize the industry that has provided her with such a great lifestyle that she could divorce her husband, buy a house and drive a red Corvette.

Jolene Dreisbach

Temecula