TWA Ad

To the Editor of The Crimson:

Perhaps the most heated exchange in the pages of The Crimson this year concerned the propriety of running an ad for Harvard-Radcliffe women to pose for Playboy. Editors seemed to show concern about the exploitation of women in their arguments against printing the Playboy ad.

In light of this, we were dismayed to find a large ad in the April 18th Crimson seeking applicants to be TWA flight attendants. Moreover, we found it shocking that The Crimson chose not to inform its readership that 6000 TWA flight attendants--85 percent of whom are women--have been on strike for almost two months against a proposed 45 percent cut in pay and benefits.

This strike concerns a principle of critical importance for all working women--equal pay for comparable worth. Carl Icahn, president of TWA, has attempted to justify these cuts with the myth that women deserve less pay because they are not the "primary bread winners" for their families.

This ad is nothing more than a blatant attempt to break the flight attendants' union. Is not the ongoing exploitation of working women (and men) as abhorrent as the potential exploitation of H-R women in the pages of Playboy? Instead of running TWA ads, The Crimson should run an editorial urging students not to fly TWA until management reaches a just settlement with TWA workers. Daniel Goldhagen '81, GSAS   Mustafa Emirbayer GSAS   Debra Satz   Teaching Assistant in Social Studies   John Borneman GSAS   Michael Macy '70   Lecturer in Social Studies   Brennon Wood   Teaching Assistant in Social Studies   Joseph Schwartz   Teaching Assistant in Social Studies   Jeffrey Goodwin   Teaching Assistant in Social Studies