Unions are part of a democracy

Definition of union according to Webster's: “Agreeing or leaguing together for mutual benefit; the unity or solidarity produced by this; combining or grouping together for some specific purpose.”

By this definition any lobbying group fits the description. Do Republican leaders really want to do away with all lobbying groups or only specific unions who oppose their agenda?

If tyrants with wealth and power had treated lower and middle class workers fairly through history, there would be no need for unions. Have we all forgotten farm hands worked to death in horrible living conditions, women in garment districts burned to death while locked in firetrap buildings, miners owing the company store more than they could ever pay so indentured for life, factories where workers lost limbs or lives because conditions were not regulated? These scenarios all took place for years until individuals banded together and said, “no more.”

If tyrants with wealth and power are allowed to rule with an iron fist, blackmailing those who band together into giving up that right, we no longer have a Democracy, we have a country ruled by tyranny.

Susan Denison

Iowa City