Villifying unions is an attack on middle class

I was dismayed at your choice of the cartoon on the Feb. 24 Opinion page, showing two masked thugs putting a gun to the head of a character identified as a Wisconsin taxpayer. The two thugs apparently represent public employees who through their union can legally engage in collective bargaining. This is a disgusting pictorial libel of public employees and their unions.

We have seen The Gazette reports over several days of huge peaceful rallies in Madison by supporters of the right of public employees to continue to collectively bargain for fair wages and decent working conditions. And we have also seen a concerted, ultraconservative agenda that spreads well beyond Wisconsin to destroy those rights.

The thuggish behavior is that of Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican colleagues in the Wisconsin Legislature in refusing to negotiate in good faith and take the union-busting legislation off the table after the unions agreed to the economic concessions demanded.

There were a lot of cries of government tyranny and assault upon the middle class in the last election. Well, here we have it playing out before us, perpetrated by those who cried the loudest.

Sharon Mellon

Solon