Hypocrite Handlin's "Right to Work" Article Is Biased And Fails To Tell The Whole Story.

Readers may find Amy Handlin's article about the "Right to Work" and unions rather interesting even though it is somewhat biased and fails to tell the whole story.

Since I am a life member of the Communications Workers of America" union ( a member since 1953 when I went to work for the telephone company...it was New Jersey Bell then and was Bell Atlantic when I retired in 1989 and is Verizon today) ,and CWA was a union that represented only telephone workers and was an "agency shop" not a "closed shop", my view of the situation differs from Ms. Handlin's point of view.

Unions are businesses also and they are in the business of representation..........thus CWA represents public workers today because technology has diminished the number of telephone workers. Since it requires many members to accomplish goals on behalf of membership,CWA expanded it's membership into the public sector where the growth of potential membership existed. The old adage is "there is strength in numbers " .

Everyone benefits from the unions accomplishments,even management who are not usually unionized ( police are one exception). CWA was always considered one of the most democratic ( not in the political sense) of the major unions in this country.

Distortion of the facts for political purposes serves no one . The republicans do a good job at the blame game but they have no compunction in failing to tell the whole truth for political purposes. Union membership is comprised of both Republicans and Democrats........lots of people from each party. It is not all about politics, it's about "fair representation" of workers rights.

Barbara Thorpe
Lincroft NJ

President Obama's Weekly Address 4/2/11: Gas Prices & Energy Security

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama discussed his strategy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and secure our nation’s energy future. When the President was elected, America imported eleven million barrels of oil a day. This week he announced a bold, but achievable goal of cutting this number by one-third by 2025.

To achieve this goal we will increase responsible domestic oil and gas development in the short term, while also increasing efficiency and harnessing new technologies including biofuels, natural gas, and advanced batteries. And through the Clean Fleets Partnership, large companies, such as UPS, FedEx, AT&T, Verizon, and PepsiCo, will help boost the market for clean fuels by switching their fleets over to electric and alternative vehicles.