FRANK MCNAMARA’S April 27 op-ed “Abolish municipal unions’’ contains but a single defensible fact: namely that local governments are under dire economic pressure. As a labor movement principal with more than 20 years’ experience in worker education and leadership training, I’m all too familiar with the suffering and anxiety that working people are experiencing in this economy.
However, ask a unionized worker, public or private, who has recently experienced decreased work hours, layoff, furlough, pay cuts, or diminished health insurance coverage if he or she agrees with McNamara’s view that unions are all-powerful devils holding our nation captive, and the answer you get will be: I think not. While railing against the recent Boston firefighters contract award, McNamara suggests that we abolish government worker unions. He disingenuously fails to point out that the city voluntarily agreed to enter the process leading to that award. Nor does he acquaint us with the arbitration panel’s reasoning. His notion that unions are unnecessary because existing law protects everyone from workplace injustice or danger is an example of what psychologists term “magical thinking.’’ Finally, it is disturbing to read that a former US attorney believes the key to improving the quality of life for all is to be found in the revoking of legal rights. George Embleton [AFSCME], West Roxbury