This is the other side of the Nov. 24 letter to the editor by Andrew Soucy about his dad (“Pickets shouldn’t harass FairPoint manager who worked his way up“).

First: Kudos to Andrew Soucy for his loyalty. This response is evidence of my loyalty to my husband and son-in-law. They’ve also worked their way up (36 and 20 years) as linemen.

My husband’s tenure originated with New England Telephone and continued through NYNEX, Bell-Atlantic and Verizon to FairPoint. Without line crews and installation/repair guys maintaining outside plant in all weather conditions, there’d be nothing or no one to “manage.”

Please dig deeper for facts of what FairPoint is doing to the workers. The company is Southern-based, going forward with a plantation mentality about labor. The New England states are the majority of business, carrying the company as a whole.

Outsourcing is a dangerous slope. An illustration is FairPoint’s “spokesperson,” Angelynne Beaudry. Google her name for some interesting facts.

Her extensive history of multiple short-term jobs (not quite a year at FairPoint) certainly calls into question how she could understand the long-term employment commitment of Andrew Soucy’s father or my family members.

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Soucy’s dad is overworked, no doubt. The positive is that his family receives a check every week for groceries. There’s health insurance for any unexpected medical emergency.

It is unrealistic to imagine that dedicated, hardworking people choose being without these two things lightly. One medical issue could create a bankruptcy for someone.

This is now our daily life, gut-wrenching and stress-filled. (I refer to the Nov. 22 column by Mark Rowe, “Maine Voices: FairPoint employees stand up for the good jobs workers deserve.” No one makes up a story like his.)

Every life situation has two sides. I empathize with Andrew Soucy, and ask him to please extend my family the same.

Marcia Syvinski

South Berwick


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