Thank you, Nandkishor, for your most considerate note. Thank you especially for sensing that this was an uncomfortable piece to write.

Yes, I think it's important to advise union members to be wary of striking. They've been submissive for decades. Now the low unemployment rate in the USA offers them an advantage, and they're eager to use it. But that's no assurance they'll win a strike, and I think they should keep that in mind, lest they make the kind of life-altering mistake I made.

But though that made this article worth writing, I had to air my dirty laundry to write it, and that was unpleasant. I naively thought we had the advantage. I misjudged our opponent. In fact, as we ruefully acknowledged after the strike, "We had Reagan right where he wanted us." Furthermore, I broke a vow which I solemnly took (to not strike). In so doing, I committed a felony which could have sent me to prison for a year. As it was, I was blacklisted from being a controller, a job I loved, until after the point when there was no going back. And the fact that I committed a felony narrowed my career options and income for the rest of my life.

Yes indeed, Nandkishor, I'm much more comfortable writing satire. Don't expect to see me take myself seriously again. <Smile>