Public Employee Press

Mail and Media
Letters to the editor

Opposes Employee Free Choice Act

I’d like to comment on DC 37’s endorsement of the Employee Free Choice Act. I agree that employees should be free to join a union without threats and reprisals from management.

What troubles me about this proposal is that it stipulates that a workplace would become unionized when more than half of the employees sign a card agreeing to union representation. No secret ballot would be required. Does that sound democratic? Without a secret ballot, how do we prevent someone from being forced to sign against their will?

The opposition to this bill is not solely Republican. Recently one of organized labor’s allies, former senator and Democratic nominee George McGovern, came out in opposition. He praised the current “secret ballot overseen by the impartial National Labor Relations Board.”

I agree with his assessment of this bill as “a disturbing and undemocratic overreach.” It may be tempting for union leaders to push for a law that willgrant them an immediate gain. What DC 37 and other unions should consider is the potential backlash and anti-union destruction it may bring in the long run.

—Steven Kalka
Computer Specialist (SW), Local 2627

Editor’s note: The current election process does not really give employees the freedom to choose if they want a union, and the so-called “impartial” NLRB has become a management tool. The procedures can take years, and independent university studies show that employers use the election period to pressure, intimidate and even fire pro-union employees.

The Employee Free Choice Act would change the system so that if a majority of the employees want a union, it would be up to them — not the employer — to decide whether an election is needed.

The EFCA will allow working men and women to unionize and negotiate better health care, wages and retirement security, strengthening the middle class and the national economy.

Unions back Obama, who cosponsored EFCA, and oppose McCain, who voted against it.

As for George McGovern, he deserves praise for opposing the Vietnam War. He was unable to get union support in 1972 because he had sided with big business on key labor legislation since 1959. In fact, of late he has been associated with the front groups of right-wing anti-labor lobbyist Richard Berman.

Israel and Palestine can cooperate

In the September 2008 edition of the PEP, Larry Ginsberg rails at Israel for being an “apartheid state” with respect to the rights, wishes and well being of the Palestinian population.

Of course, he says nothing about the suicide bombings in Jewish communities and crowded market places that were perpetrated by militant Palestinians, nor does he address the unremitting unprovoked rocket attacks from Gaza that have killed dozens of Israeli civilians.

Mr. Ginsberg also neglects to mention that the Jewish settlements that were in the Gaza Strip have been dismantled, ending the occupation that Mr. Ginsberg claims is responsible for the continued Palestinian violence against Israel.

Fatah and Hamas have historically hatched their acts of terror from within Arab communities, making it difficult for Israel to defend itself without injuring innocent Palestinian Arabs who have found themselves in the path of the very violence their leaders choose to initiate.
There are some wonderful examples of Israeli/Palestinian cooperation, such as the West Bank city of Jenin, once a byword for Israeli/Palestinian violence but now a burgeoning success story where trust is being built on a foundation of mutual economic prosperity.

So in the everlasting spirit of hope and peace I say to Mr. Ginsberg that he needs to line up his ducks in a row before writing misleading and self-righteous commentaries. The Bible also says the truth will set you free!

—Michael Rosenberg
City Planner IV, Local 375



Roberts is right

The mayor is nickel-and-diming us in bargaining, and Lillian Roberts is right to call that totally “unacceptable.”

This union’s fundamental struggle is to get the city to recognize the dignity of our work and our right to equality. We are not second-class citizens!

If the mayor won’t give us the same offer he has given other unions, then we have to show the mayor our real strength as a union with a rally so big that— even if we don’t use the word “strike” — it would make the power structure wonder whether we are angry enough to walk out. Personally, I am.

I am fed up and fired up and I don’t think we should take it any more.

—Mary Clark
Local 1549