Unions make for a healthy middle class

I really cannot believe people who put down unions. They have very short memories. Twenty-nine miners died in the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia last April 5 because the owner violated 57 safety regulations. It was cheaper for him to pay $382,000 in fines than to provide decent working conditions for his men. The owner of the mine, whose salary is $19 million dollars a year, won’t allow his miners to unionize.

On April 20 of last year, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. Again, unsafe working conditions were to blame because of the 2005 energy bill which basically allowed oil companies to inspect their own rigs, and the crew was nonunion.

Walmart is well-known for paying low wages, providing minimal health care and a host of other labor-related problems, some of which have spurred class-action lawsuits. Walmart employees don’t have a union.

While corporate profits soar, workers are expected to give up benefits, pensions and salary. This only makes sense to CEOs. It shouldn’t make sense to workers, whether they are union or not.

This battle is not about union vs. nonunion workers. There is no need for workers to give up hard-earned wages, benefits or pensions, when the billion-dollar tax breaks for corporations (which they don’t need) are being handed out left and right.

Unions helped raise workers’ salaries and standard of living, thus creating and enlarging the middle class. There is a determined effort right now to bust unions, which, if successful, will lead to the destruction of the middle class.

It is in the best interest of all workers to stand together and not let the corporate interests have their way.

Lee Mishkin

Buffalo Grove