TNT letters to the editor, 5/22/2021
Grocery workers
Re: “Spit-on, screamed-at grocery workers face hazard deeper than COVID-19,” ( TNT, 5/12).
Bravo! The TNT Editorial Board’s scathing criticism of Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and his three Republican County Council colleagues who rejected hazard pay for supermarket employees is the correct rebuke based on two compelling economic reasons.
First, hazard pay promotes economic efficiency because it recognizes the market failure to attract employees in this industry.
Second, hazard pay signals that economic equity or fairness is consistent with a civil society. Uncivil behavior, however, betrays free-market principles.
The Republicans’ uncivil political actions mirror the rogue behavior of customers who disrespect and terrorize supermarket employees. Freshman GOP council member Amy Cruver’s opposition to hazard pay is contemptible and her reference to masking requirements is a complete non-sequitur.
Supermarket employees now face a trifecta of enemies: COVID-19, thuggish customers and boorish politicians who don’t function in the public’s best interests.
Bill Dickens, University Place
Police job desirability
Re: “Washington among best states for police officers, report finds,” ( TNT, 5/10).
The report by WalletHub is a slap in the face for the men and women of the shamed and persecuted police force of Seattle and Washington as a whole.
The governor, mayor and Seattle City Council are the culprits for the horrific summer violence. Criminals (with little punitive consequence) were allowed to put the police on the run, were given a police station to desecrate with their hate and human waste, and were able to force a respectable police chief to step down.
The Department of Justice under President Trump had it right.
Judy Olson, Sumner
Biden performance
It is time to review President Biden’s performance in the past four months as he puts into effect hundreds of proclamations with lightning speed.
It is extremely disconcerting to watch his reversal of immigration policy that rejects common sense and preparation, allowing massive movements of immigrants into this country during a pandemic.
It not only threatens border states but also the welfare of children and the safety of our cities already dealing with homelessness.
For years Sen. Biden voted against federal funding of abortion. If it was wrong then and it is wrong now. Yet he’s now allowing federal tax dollars to fund abortions in foreign countries and allocating funds for domestic abortions.
There is tremendous concern that doctors and nurses will be forced to leave their jobs if they refuse to comply based on religious convictions.
Benjamin Rush, an esteemed physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, said: “He alone who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.” He claimed he was a “Christocrat.”
The Bible recounts the ultimate fate of characters and nations who either accepted or rejected God. Only God can save this nation.
Sheila Marston, Tacoma
Unemployment benefits
I read with wonder at the people in government who feel that the current COVID-driven unemployment benefits should be ended because they’re encouraging people not to work.
If this is true, it really speaks to how poorly the available jobs pay.
This, of course, is the same crew that also doesn’t want to raise the minimum wage to a remotely livable level.
We have a terrible term that has crept into our vocabulary this last generation: “the working poor.” It is a sad state of affairs when working and not working are equally financially unattractive.
Matt Condit, Gig Harbor
This story was originally published May 22, 2021 at 12:07 PM with the headline "TNT letters to the editor, 5/22/2021."