Published in the Boston Herald, Letters to the Editor, April 17, 2009

Earth to Michael Barone: Claiming that Employee Free Choice will abolish secret ballots is a lie (“Earth to unions,” April 13). In reality, Employee Free Choice will give employees, not employers, the choice of whether to form a union - either by majority sign-up or through an election.

Barone makes the irrational claim that there’s no polling to show that private-sector workers would prefer to be unionized. However, when statistics show that union members are 62 percent more likely to have employer health care coverage, earn 28 percent higher wages and four times more likely to have a pension, middle-class workers won’t deny themselves and their families the chance to be a union member.

Rich Rogers, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Greater Boston Labor Council