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I’m writing about the op-ed “Workers wouldn’t have a voice with ‘free choice’ act” (May 4) by J.R. Gaylor and Kirk Pickerel about the Employee Free Choice Act.
They say workers wouldn’t have a voice, as if they really have a voice in a non-union shop. I’ve never heard the union say if you don’t join we’ll ship the union over the border or overseas, but I have heard companies say that in reference to unionizing. What kind of choice is that?
And the argument of the secret ballot is bogus; if employees want a secret ballot election, they’ll get one. Gaylor and Pickerel seem to forget that workers have the right to organize, not the privilege or the blessing from the company.
For too long, too many in corporate America and in Congress have wanted to see American workers get paid Third World wages. Thank God for the unions that set the benchmarks for wages and benefits.
ROY MUNGUIA New Haven
Back-to-back letters criticized President Obama for being indecisive and ineffective: “Obama acting like apprentice senator” and “Obama is not helping economy” (April 26).
One cites President Bush’s pronouncement, “Be with us or against us,” and says Bush “attacked the Taliban” as examples of decisiveness. Has the writer noticed that the war has been unsuccessful because Bush diluted our effort by starting an ill-advised war in Iraq? I want a leader who doesn’t act like a cowboy with knee-jerk reactions but thinks an issue through and does the right thing.
So far, President Obama has put through a stimulus package that is beginning to have an effect, addressed civil liberty issues, begun work to affect health care for all, begun the withdrawal from Iraq and strengthened our forces in Afghanistan, as he said he would. It’s one thing to not agree with policies, but name-calling should be left to bozos like Rush Limbaugh.
We need to stop the partisan attacks and work together in our community and nation to make it a better place.
HY PLIMPTON Fort Wayne
Regarding the letter by Bob Frantz, “Keep promises on gun control” (April 30): He states that “No one has ever suggested that anyone who wishes to own a gun for legal hunting should be deprived of this right.” This statement is untrue.
One of the most recent attempts, which was defeated, attempted to define the assault rifle. The legal definition of an assault rifle was any firearm with a semi-automatic ordnance-loading capability in which each time a person pulls the trigger, a round is fired and another round is loaded into the chamber to wait for the next time the trigger is pulled. This would have made the squirrel rifle I used as a kid, and the one I use today, illegal.
Not all people want to outlaw gun ownership, just add more controls. But a crack in the dam only gets wider. While I, too, am appalled by gun violence, we don’t need more gun laws or regulations; we need total enforcement of the ones we have, and swift justice when they are not abided by.
BRIAN KERSHNER Decatur
