These Aren’t the Good Old Pre-Union Days

During the management tour of the unnamed shipping facility, industry consultant Frank Hanley “chuckled and shook his head” when at 11:30 a.m., the “noisy, outsized and frenetic” work scene ceased for lunch. According to “Making Waves on the Waterfront” [June 30], he “couldn’t have asked for a better demonstration of the union’s power.”

What’s with the chuckle and the shaking of the head? What is he implying here? Is he opposed to these union members taking a lunch hour? Are they supposed to wait until “work slows down” before they have a meal? Why would it be a problem if they all took lunch at the same time? Lunch breaks are not a job perk.

This is not the pre-labor union days of the Industrial Revolution, where outhouse (a luxury) breaks and meals were nonexistent.

Wendy J. Salaya

Long Beach