Free to strike

YOUR editorial (January 22), while trying to be neutral in the air traffic controllers’ dispute, was guilty of muddying the water. The strike was clearly over the suspension of the controllers and not about anything else.

The action of the Irish Aviation Authority was clearly provocative and aimed at embarrassing the union. The usual chorus from the ill-informed public was predictable. “Holding the country to ransom,” etc.

The utterances of Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, who couldn’t grit a road, were sinister. He suggested strike action by certain workers be outlawed. Let me remind him that only slaves cannot withdraw their labour. Trade unionists, Mr Dempsey, are free people.