I just read your reply to concerned members of the Mountain Equipment Co-op about the socks you are selling from J.B. Fields. Your letter was a chicken shit refusal to hear the PLEA FOR HELP from a group of women who are UNDER ATTACK.

Many people including your own co-op members are SUFFERING because of the choices you have made, are HORRIFIED at the flagrant violation which MEC has committed against its own supposedly ethical principles, and are EMBARRASSED by the way in which you are trying to cloak your cowardice with the language of objectivity and neutrality.

I have friends in both the co-op and the labour movements in Canada and over time I have observed that while the philosophies of the two movements seem to work well toether on paper, in real life the supposed co-operation between the two movements often falls apart. Your letter counts as a big black mark in my book against the co-op movement in general and demonstrates its seeming inherent inability to grasp in real terms the everyday struggles of working Canadians.

I am writing because I am hoping to help you overcome the contradictions between your IMAGE and your BEHAVIOUR. Although I am aware that the learning curve for many image-conscious MEC yuppies (my friends included) has a tendency to be particularly SLOW, you should know that your seeming ignorance is HURTING people, and if you don't learn your lessons pretty damn fast, you WILL be called on the contradictions between what you SAY you are and what you actually ARE.

Right now you ARE a SCAB. You SAY you are choosing the middle ground, but this cowardly attempt to escape from your responsibilities won't work, and I'll tell you why: There IS no middle ground. In Trenton, the very middle ground itself has been torn by greedy corporate claws out from under the feet of its workers. Your letter is a load of P.R. bullshit, but you have succeeded in exposing yourself. Your blatant attempt to justify to yourself that you're standing on responsible and on objectively 'safe' ethical ground will only carry you so far.

Think 'Coyote' after he's just run off the edge of a cliff.

Pretty soon all illusions collapse and even if you can convince yourself for a few moments that the situation of a group of women who are getting screwed over (badly) by the company and others is not 'your' problem, if you really insist on clinging to this illusion and 'standing' on your 'middle ground', a pretty steep drop awaits you when you wake up from your illusion. Remember: the slower you learn, the more people get hurt - you, your co-op, the members of your co-op and the women walking the line.

If you're still experiencing learning difficulties, however, might I suggest a trip to Trenton? It's getting cold and it would be awful nicemof you to demonstrate the feel-good co-op ethics and the social responsibility which diffentiates you from all those 'other' corporations by distributing some of those $400 parkas to women who are walking the line every day, have been getting $75 a week in strike pay for almost the whole last year and who will soon lose their jobs altogether. Don't forget to wish them a merry christmas.

And although you're sort of late getting in on this whole 'Solidarity' thing, who knows, maybe the women on the line will take the time to teach you a thing or two. And I'll bet their fashion tips to help you look better in front of the customers will go as follows:

1. Your socks suck.

2. Your yuppy do-good mentality clashes very badly with your do-nothing practice. One or the other has got to go.

3. Tell the Emperor he's not wearing any clothes cuz he'll freeze to death standing buck naked on the picket line in December thinking he's all that while the whole world can see he has no balls.

Sincerely,
Andrea Towler