LETTER TO EDITOR: Labor unions' contributions

Sen DeMint got it exactly right, and Mr. Maki's response is purposefully misleading. There is nothing unfair about expressing one's opinion about joining a union. It is grotesquely unfair, and anti-American, to require open ballots. Allowing the EFCA to go forward would be just one more example of corrupt politicians selling out to corrupt unions.

Senator DeMint was 100% correct. Why would the union need to see your vote? So they can intimidate and harrass those who don't go along. I've seen it personally. It quite frankly makes a person despise the union even more. I was a member of IBEW for 22 of my 27 years at CENTEL/Sprint. The last five I woke up and kept my $900 a year and put in a savings account rather than give it to people who didn't care a wit about my wages, health or welfare, only about keeping thier position within the union.

Reid Maki said, "I recently heard author Barbara Ehrenreich speak, and she noted that when she was working at Wal-Mart as part of her research for her book "Nickel and Dimed," workers were not allowed to talk about unions on company property" Gee Mr. Maki, did it occur to you that Walmart employees are paid to work while they're at work? Did it not occur to you that Walmart has every right to determine what activities other than work, employees are allowed to engage in on the company's property? Since when did businesses lose their right to free speech, or the right to conduct their business, that they pay for, as they see fit? If the employees do not like the conditions at Walmart or any other open shop business, they have the right to seek other employment. By the way, did Ms. Ehrenreich disclose to Walmart that she was working there for the purpose of conducting research to use against the business? A spy? Walmart provided a job to this person in good faith and she repaid them by using information she gathered on their time against them to benefit the union. How French of her.

“In 1899,“ That was then, now is now! There was a time when the unions actually made a difference in helping workers get a fair shake, but don’t lose sight of the fact that it was always on the workers union dues dollar! The greed and special interests run rampant on the workers dollar today and they have no voice! I stand corrected if you thought it was OK for the unions to spend millions of worker union dues to promote a presidential candidate or a special interest? That spending could have increased workers medical benefits or reduced the premiums! It could have significantly increased workers strike benefits, God forbid that would be a necessity. There is a never-ending list of ways that money could have been better spent for the good of the worker, but wasn’t. “EFCA allows workers to express their desire to join a union by signing a card. Is there anything inherently unfair about that? The tone of your letter suggests you are very pro-union. It puts you out of the realm of undecided, about, what you want for an affiliation with a union. The current laws allow a worker to express their desire for a union to represent them. The huge difference is that under the EFCA there is no secret ballot. If workers want a union to represent them, it’s their business, and their right to privacy should be honored, and the same holds true for workers that don’t want a union. Currently, 30% signed cards is the authorization for an election. There is no clear definition in EFCA that specifies what percentage a majority is. That being said, who in their right mind would want one worker, in determining the future of more than three workers, if given the choice to speak for themselves? Mr. Maki, you tell me, is that fair? You addressed other issues that would take this comment to paperback length such as Barbara Ehrenreich And freedom of speech, but I choose to keep it shorter. Much of what we see in the workplace today, we brought on ourselves. Far too many workers in the workplace wouldn’t know work ethic if it came up and kissed them on the lips. Too many in top and middle management believe that good management style is something you can buy at Fantastic Sam’s. I have no leanings toward labor unions or corporate ideology. One is a parasite, and the other is tunnel vision to a bottom line respectively. The answer is not to give up our right to vote in the workplace, that truly is not fair, nor is it to let the government run our workplace. If the legislature went back to the drawing board and drew up legislation that really was a champion for the worker that would be another story. As it is written now it has already been bought and paid for. One of the EFCA’s biggest proponents in congress is a multi-millionaire that has taken part in as many union elections as she has lunar space flights.