Letters to the Editor

A longshoreman unloads:The article "Off the Waterfront" (Matt Smith, June 5) could not have been more appropriately titled. It is obvious that the author didn't spend 15 minutes "on the waterfront" doing his research. Let's begin with the blatant falsehoods.

- The statement that there has only been one West Coast dock strike since 1934 ignores the strikes of 1936-1937 and 1948.

- Longshore workers' wages are nowhere near $340,000 a year with part-timers making $70,000.

- Our members have not been told technology is a ruse being used to bust the union.

- And the most outlandish statement was the one about longshoremen functioning as "a narrowly focused interest group." Our founding principle of "An injury to one is an injury to all" are not mere words within this union.

The only statement that contains any truth at all is that both the employers and the union have agreed to a confidentiality pact during their negotiations. But I will say this: The union and its members are getting tired of being portrayed as greedy, lazy, and overpaid every time we enter into negotiations. West Coast longshore workers are among the most productive in the world. It was the union that paved the way for the modern era of containerization. And the ILWU has stood at the forefront on social issues throughout its existence. So, I implore you to get your story straight. If you have something to say about the ILWU, please know what it is you are talking about.

Richard Mead
President, ILWU Local #10
North Beach

In a really perfect world, we'd all make longshoremen's wages: Matt Smith is to be commended for his article on labor and its importance in San Francisco and U.S. history. Yes, the ILWU has good contracts in the Bay Area; they fight hard for them, as Mr. Smith pointed out. The ILWU does indeed take on battles that have global repercussions. What they accomplish is important for anyone who works for a living. In a perfect world, there would be no need for people to band together to save each other.

Kirstie Applen
Inner Sunset

The flip side of parole: So [prison inmate Eddy] Zheng has had 16 years to feel better about himself, but what about the people he terrorized ("Throwing Away the Key," June 5, on Zheng and Gov. Gray Davis' unwritten policy of denying parole to eligible life-term prisoners)? How long does it take two small children to get over being locked in a bathroom for hours hearing their parents' screams? How long for a woman to get over being tied to a bed and stripped of her clothes and dignity? (Oh, wait, they were only pretending they were going to rape her and take those humiliating pictures.) How long for a man to get over the fact that he might never again have seen his family alive? Your article mentions nothing about the people [Zheng] brutalized. How are they doing? Will they ever sleep peacefully? Your article should have shown both sides.

Name Withheld
Haight-Ashbury

We blame it on the person who borrowed our atlas: Gary Morris' coverage of this year's Lesbian & Gay Film Fest provided a startling moment ("Tranny-Spotting," Night & Day, June 12). It surprised me to hear that the teenage girls of Lawrence Ah Mon's Spacked Outwere "running riot through Japanese society." Unless Japan suddenly annexed the New Territories section of Hong Kong (the setting of Spacked Out) within the last couple of years, I cannot conceive how Morris' statement could be accurate. Too bad the film's dialogue didn't tip Morris off.

Peter Wong
Richmond District

In last week's Night Crawler column, the names of Perki and Tina Mosier-Tidd were misspelled.

In last week's Summer in the City guide, a story on boating ("At Play in the Bay") gave the wrong contact information for Robert Gray Charters. The correct information is: Day and overnight maritime history tours, gourmet food tours, and Alaska Inside Passage cruises on a 120-foot tugboat, (888) 316-9378, www.robertgraycharters.com. We regret the errors.