The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.9           March 9, 1998 
 
 
Letters  
Concessions at Northwest
I have been a flight attendant for 31 years. A friend of mine retired from United Airlines last year at age 55 with pay of $1,700 a month. If I were to retire at that age, mine would be $490 a month. Thirty-four years is a long time to work for a large company and leave basically with nothing.

Our union along with the others gave three very long years of concessions to "supposedly" save Northwest from a certain fate of bankruptcy. Because of these concessions, the company is in a very good financial state (over $1.2 billion in cash in the bank). Northwest and the other carriers have made massive profits while the workers have given tremendous concessions. Flight attendants at AA [American Airlines] and Alaska for example fought back and won!!

It is really an insult to us all that Northwest is not willing to negotiate in a fair way. Morale right now is very low. It has been 10 years since we have had a pay increase. In closing, I want every union member to be aware of how far below industry standard we truly are - especially in retirement.

C.W.

Los Angeles, California

Free Irish activists
In the summer of 1997, the United States government promised Sinn Fein that the remaining Irish political prisoners in the USA would be released and that all deportation proceedings against Irish political refugees would be ended. Sometime in December of 1997, the White House decided to reject the clemency appeal of Richard Johnson, an Irish republican political prisoner. In California, three Irish political refugees, Terry Kirby, Pol Brennan, and Kevin Barry Artt, are being held in federal prison, awaiting deportation hearings. In Cleveland Ohio, another political refugee, Noel Cassidy, will face deportation proceedings this summer. The three prisoners in California, Terry Kirby, Pol Brennan and Kevin Barry Artt, were republican prisoners of war, who escaped from Long Kesh detention camp in 1983. After their escape, they immigrated to the United States, got jobs, married, had children, and became part of the U.S. working class, like millions of other workers from around the world. These three anti-imperialist fighters remained supporters of the freedom struggle in Ireland and made speeches, raised funds, and went to demonstrations. They engaged in legal political activity. It is because of their political activity that they have been singled out for persecution by the federal government.

Richard Johnson is an Irish-American supporter of the Irish freedom struggle who was simply framed up by the FBI on charges of holding contraband for foreign insurgents.

We would like to ask other Militant readers to come to the support of our fellow anti-imperialist fighters imprisoned in the United States. First of all these political prisoners need solidarity, contact with fighters on the outside of the walls. We urge you to write to one or more of these political hostages of U.S. imperialism.

The addresses : Terrence Kirby #885 33 -011; Pol Brennan # 875 71 - 011; Kevin Barry Artt #330 20 - 198 - Federal Detention Center, 5675 8th. Street, Camp Parks, Dublin, California 94568.

Richard Johnson #17422 - 038 UA56 - Box 1000 White Deer, Pa. 17887.

Also, Irish Northern Aid is calling for letters of protest to President William Clinton requesting that he release all Irish political prisoners and end deportation proceedings against political refugees.

Roy Inglee

Wilmington, Delaware

`Go to the socialists'
I am interested in your newspaper. The Militant is a socialist paper, I believe. I am Albanian. My country now is socialist. So I thought this would be the best way to educate myself. "If you want to learn socialism, go to the socialist."

A prisoner

Fishkill, New York

Add me to mailing list
I'm writing to request that you add me to your mailing list. I'm an inmate at Angola, Louisiana, (Louisiana State Penitentiary) and I ran across your ad in the Prison Life magazine. I automatically became interested!

A prisoner

Angola, Louisiana

What can I do to help?
I want to receive your newspaper. Myself and two friends are planning to found a socialist commune when we get out. I want to educate the masses and open their eyes to the truth. What can I do to help the socialist movement?

A prisoner

Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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