Basic HTML Version
August 1971
There were four of us; we were in
New York for the meetings of the
American Association for the Advance–
ment of Science. We ate at a restaurant
on 53rd Strcet and went outside into
the frigid air to hail a cab.
I
went around to the right side, and
entered the front. A little hesitation on
who would enter where
oc
sit in which
seat momentarily occurred.
The
PLAIN TRUTH
"Shut the
&&&***$$**&$
door!"
the driver yelled.
"Shut your foul mouth !"
I
replied.
He simply scowled.
1
repeated my
statement - even elaborated on it a
little.
He said,
"Ali
right, all right, so
I
didn't say nothin'."
I
suppose he worried that
I
might
report his obscenities to the company -
THE IMPORTANCE OF " SERVICE PEOPLE"
-
Photo above shows
normafly crowded oirline ticket counters. Componion photo (below) shows
virtually deserted ticket counters when mochinist and mechanics struck five
major oirfines. The year wos 1966 and it was the fongest ai r fine strike in
history. A large part of air traffic was hafted. The effect on the airlines wos
dramatic. The five struck airlines fost $330 miffion in revenues. About 80
miffion passengers were forced to cancel their trovel plans or make other
orrongements. Businesses closely related to airfines fost obout one billion
dollars, occording to one educated guess. Afl this occurred becouse
"servicing" of planes was halted by a strike.
Top-
Horold
M. lombert; llelow- Wide
World
45
though I can't imagine why, in a society
where even leading politicians, entertain–
ers, and, sometimes, dergymen, are so
free with profanity and obscenity.
Jt
was interesting from there on. He
had heard the broadcast, and
J
found
him
to be a fairly decent human being.
He even took us the long way around,
at his own request, so he could have
more time to ask questions and talk to
me. We were a little late for the start of
the baH game - but it was worth it.
Speaking of New York City, have
you noticed the change in ·attitude of
even "civil" servants lately. lt's most
obvious in New York, but evident
everywhere you look.
America's Paramilitary
"Civil" Servants
Last June, New York City lived
through a week they. would rather for–
get, and certainly not like to repeat -
but chances are they will. On Monday,
Juoe
7,
unionized bridgetenders blocked
27
of the city's
29
drawbriclges, trap–
ping huoclreds of thousands of motorists
in
sweltering heat. One observer
described this as "a pre-rush-hour
coup
executed with commando-like precision,
strippiog gears, blowing fuses and im·
mobilizing clrawbridge mechaoisms like
so many characters in an Alistair
Maclean war movie."
Even the union leaders spoke of it as
"hit and mn" tactics, "anarchy" and
"guerrilla warfare." "We'll have to
study Mao - use hit-and-run tactics"
said a Teamster lobbyist, as New York
City suffered its worst traffic
jam
in
history.
Meanwhile, Consolidated Edison or–
dered the first electrical brownout of the
season.
The next day, the situation worsened
- if that's conceivable. On Tuesday,
June 8, the strike spread to all sewage·
treatment plants, water-supply facilities,
garbage disposal incinerators, park
employees, and the food shipments to
the schools. Over one
billion
gallons of
raw sewage poured into the already con–
taminated rivers of New York.
Why the furor? Municipal
servants
wanted much higher salaries and more
fringe benefits (so that they could live
50 miles out in the suburbs, like
al1
the
other ricb commuters) . The key demand