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Letters

The Plight of Unions, and How to Revive Them

Credit...Angie Wang

To the Editor:

Kashana Cauley has hit the nail on the head in “We Need Our Fathers’ Unions” (Op-Ed, July 13). The plight of many American workers is a sad one. Without unions workers today are deprived of a respectable wage and decent, if any, health care.

We seem to live in an age in which management holds all the cards. It is a sadder age, and it does not look as if it is going to get any better.

Under the pretext that if unions do not give up their hard-won rights jobs will go to Asia, many unions have been stripped to the bone or forced into nonexistence. A result is that many workers are just holding on while a few at the top get rich.

I grieve for my country and its workers.

PETER TWOMEY
MARSHFIELD, MASS.

The writer is a retired teacher and union member.

To the Editor:

Kashana Cauley makes an important point: Unions are as vital now as they were in the 1960s. But we cannot ignore our evolving economy. Unions must change to remain relevant.

Student unionism, from Yale’s Local 33 to our union at Grinnell College, can provide a model. Involving young people, being active in the community, focusing on members, fighting aggressively and vocally — all of these must be a central part of any future labor movement.

Unions aren’t just for factory workers or truck drivers; they are for anyone who wants to have a voice in his workplace. The sooner we accept this, the sooner we can transform the labor movement from an ossified relic of the last century into a powerful engine for the social and economic change that this country desperately needs.

CORY MCCARTAN, GRINNELL, IOWA

The writer is president of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: The Plight of Unions, and How to Revive Them. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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