April 12, 2009 in Letters

Protect workers’ rights

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The March 28 opinion piece “ ‘Card check’ a union Trojan horse” does a great disservice to workers. The author writes that workers don’t need the protection of unions because “the government has an alphabet soup of agencies dedicated to protecting the rights of workers.” I wish this were true.

In fact, for example, employers can require employees to attend mandatory “captive audience” meetings. Employers often use these meetings to force their employees to listen to their political and religious beliefs. These meetings are not related to their work, though employees can be fired for not attending. This is but one example of how employer rights override the best interests of employees.

The “Community Bill of Rights” for Spokane, which is being proposed for the November ballot, puts in place rights for workers in the workplace, rights that workers don’t currently have. This is much needed and, contrary to the author’s contention, in no way the status quo.

Richard Evans

Spokane

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