Dear Sen. Mitt Romney,
I want to state my support for unions. While unions aren’t perfect, overall unions have a positive impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. I want to make it clear that I am absolutely in favor of legislation that would make it easier for Americans to form unions. Standards of living are slowly declining for ordinary people in my generation and in Gen Z.
If the aide reading this remembers one thing from this letter let it be this:
“The purpose of a union is not to give workers something for nothing. But to make sure a hard day’s work results in a fair wage.”
That’s all I want. I want my share of the value I create in a business. Workers can’t negotiate from the same position of strength that employers do when it comes to wages, benefits, work life balance or safety. The owners of the business have power to decide who to hire. Workers start off in a position of weakness by begging for employment. That’s what we do when we apply for a job. Why? Because even if we have a lot of value to contribute, there are thousands of other people that want this position. And all of us with our own self-interest will undercut each other. This is why unions strengthen the power of workers. We bargain collectively.
There’s a small threat here as well. If more politicians don’t start being sympathetic to the struggles of millennials and Gen Z when it comes to work, socialism will actually be a real possibility in the future when the demographics shift. Most of the GOP are older. If you don’t want us to turn to degenerate communism and socialism you need to make capitalism more fair.
Todd Derek Thomas, Salt Lake City
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