Sir, - It is disingenuous of Mr Peter Cassels to assert that "the intransigence shown by Ryanair in refusing to allow staff to be represented by a union is totally unacceptable . . . to all fair-minded people" since in so doing he labels anyone with a different point of view as unfair. ICTU already exerts near-monopoly control over the supply of labour in the Irish economy. Unlike any other group - the young, the old, farmers, unemployed or even the Government, ICTU can back up its demands with the power to bring the economy to a halt. The casual way in which Mr Cassels presumes he has a monopoly on fairness to match the economic power he already wields is shocking in its arrogance. - Yours, etc.,
History Department, University College, Cork.