Don't forget the value of unions

Just a thought about the budget battle in Illinois.

For the last 20 years there has been an insidious campaign by large business to demonize unions and discourage membership by painting unions as being run by crooks just interested in taking members' dues. There is no mention of the benefits of workers joining together for protection from exploitation and better health care and pensions.

My husband has been a lifelong member of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters. Our family enjoyed excellent health care and now my husband and I enjoy a comfortable retirement provided by a union sponsored pension plan paid for by union workers and union contractors, who appreciated skilled labor. Our union, thankfully, was not burdened by politicians who balanced state budgets by raiding pension plans to avoid raising taxes or reducing spending in the face of growing deficits. The union pension plan is solvent, unlike public pensions.

We seem to forget that it was through union efforts that we can enjoy eight-hour workdays, 40 hour workweeks, paid vacations, overtime pay, or enforced safety measures. Our current crop of politicians, bought and paid for by rich business owners, are hell bent on destroying unions. Once the ability to band together to support the working people is gone, how long do you think it will be before the working conditions we have become accustomed to are also gone?

Remember the phrase "divide and conquer"? That's the current plan by some politicians for middle class Americans. Please do not allow this to happen. Support workers' rights to form and maintain unions and support the politicians who actively support these rights.

Irene Wojtysiak

Pingree Grove