Mitchell’s distain for workers shows

Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005 | 8:03 a.m.

Mr. Mitchell knows nothing about collective bargaining. After all, the employees at the R-J are reduced to collective begging. They can be fired at the whim of Mitchell and his associates. Anyone conversant with municipal collective bargaining knows that the steps in a previous contract are not part of the calculation of the percentage raise in a new contract. Collective bargaining starts with the previous contract as a beginning.

The recently negotiated contract with New York City teachers is illustrative. The raises of about 15 percent for teachers were calculated by the city. Every New York newspaper and anyone with half a brain knew this calculation was independent of pre-existing steps. Mitchell and the R-J union haters will do anything to confuse the public. Unfortunately, they have succeeded.

Both Mr. Greenspun and Mr. German are identified by their compassion for the average working person. On the other hand, Mitchell and his anti-union crowd have a long record of contempt for organized workers. If compassion for the common man is hell, then hell is a better place than where Mitchell and his cohorts are.

Irwin Kaufman

Las Vegas