Generosity of Rizzo, Watt restores faith in pro athletes

I have been jaded on professional sports for over 20 years. First it was Scottie Pippen refusing to play in the last seconds of a playoff game and then Alonzo Mourning stating $ 11 million was not enough pay

Well, I might have just turned a corner on professional athletes. First, J. J. Watt stepping up for Houston helped my attitude, then Anthony Rizzo stepping up for the children of Chicago to the tune of $ 3.5 million.

God bless those fine men, and play ball. Dennis Rybarczyk, Park Ridge

New car mechanics get raw deal

It is hard to believe in this day and age that there are highly skilled, hard- working men and women in Chicago still fighting for 40 hours pay for 40 hours of work, two consecutive days off to be with their families, and a four- year apprenticeship program to properly train the next generation.

Hard to believe, but those core issues are why the IAM Automobile Mechanics’ Union Local 701 Technicians are on strike. The ghost of George Pullman must haunt the executive suites of the New Car Dealers Committee. The car dealers seem to have a Pullman carload of greed.

Of the $ 120 to $ 165 an hour dealers charge to fix your car, little more than a third constitutes the hourly wage and benefits package of new car dealer . mechanics.

Know also, new car dealers require mechanics to personally invest $ 35,000 to $ 80,000 in tools and equipment to repair dealer customer trucks and cars. The members of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 143 stand shoulder to shoulder with members of Local 701 in their fight for fair wages, quality time with their families and their desire to maintain the professional standards of their craft. It is time union workers and their families got the respect and proper compensation they deserve. William E. Iacullo, President International Union of Operating Engineers Local 143 Chicago Public Schools

Republicans’ strange ‘ tough love’

It is amazing beyond belief that the party that trumpets itself as super patriotic is willing to destroy the country to get tax cuts for the already fabulously wealthy.

It’s not enough that their candidate for president colluded with a foreign power; they now want to drag the U. S. down to the status of a Third World country in which more and more people will suffer from severe cuts to social programs.

It’s all part of their tough- love approach. Love for the obscenely wealthy, and tough for every one else. Edward Juillard, Morgan Park