I read an article in the Sun Journal (Sept. 11) about the Northwest Airlines strike. The strike was being held with the mechanics of the planes because the airline was going to lay off 3,350 mechanics, that is, 1,350 mechanics more than they were going to lay off before the mechanics went on strike. The airline was going to lay off the 3,350 mechanics because they would save $203 million a year when they usually only made $176 million.

My opinion is that Northwest Airlines should only lay off the 2,000 mechanics that they were originally going to lay off. Just because you are going to save more money doesn’t guarantee that all the mechanics you have might not work as hard. If you would keep them, they could probably have more mechanics that get the job, done and faster. The mechanics who are going to be let go probably won’t be able to get a job right after you fire them. They will have to look for jobs, and it might take a while and some might not even get another job. Then, who is going to feed their families?

All I’m saying is that they should rethink the number of people they are going to let go. But if they do still lay off the 3,350 people, they should think of a better excuse then we will save money. Come on, I bet you get thousands of dollars every day.

Ariel D’Alessandris