This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I am troubled by the recent trend within the GOP establishment to erode workers' rights, in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Florida and other places. The 2010 election was supposed to be about jobs, but the GOP agenda is clear, and the attack on workers must be stopped.
America is standing up to these ideological Republicans. I am a union member, Teamsters 222. My father was too, and he now enjoys a comfortable retirement.
Unions are directly responsible for the progress of workers' rights for the past 70 years. Now the misguided GOP wants to destroy almost a century of progress.
This is what Martin Luther King Jr. thought about the subject: "Our needs are identical with labor's needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community. … In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining. … We demand this fraud be stopped."
Terryl Erickson
South Jordan