By Michael J. O'Brien

In the Hartford Business Journal's Aug. 25 editorial, "McGovern's Right," opposing the Employee Free Choice Act, the journal has taken a cue from corporate-funded lobbyists who are trying to block long-overdue reforms of U.S. labor law.

Worse, by echoing the rhetoric of special interests that are spending millions to maintain the status quo, it ignores the fundamental problem the legislation promises to help solve: the destabilization of the American middle-class.

Despite rightly recognizing that the legislation "would dramatically improve labor's chances to unionize" more workers, the editorial fails to connect the dots for its readers: the correlation between declining membership in labor unions and the shrinking economic security of America's working families.

The percentage of private sector workers in unions has slipped to levels not seen since the turn of the last century. At the same time, the gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans is as wide today as it was before the Great Depression.

As more and more families face financial uncertainty, access to union membership can provide the security needed to keep them from falling through the cracks. With American businesses suffering the ill effects of a looming recession, a robust labor movement can provide their customers the purchasing power needed to buy their goods and services and stimulate the economy.

Our members in CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 support the Employee Free Choice Act because it would restore the right of private sector workers to unite for a voice on the job when a simple majority signs union authorization cards.

In fact, the bill would empower workers with the choice of either "card check" or a secret ballot election when considering whether to form a union. Current law limits the decision to employers, who too often exploit the weaknesses of elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board to influence the outcome. The watchdog group American Rights at Work has tracked unfair tactics in the run-up to union elections, and their statistics are alarming: 51 percent of employers threaten to shut down worksites; 34 percent coerce or bribe their workers; and 25 percent fire those who are "pro-union."

In a briefing issued last year, the Economic Policy Institute reported that 58 percent of nonunion workers in America would vote for representation if an election were held in their workplace. Yet the actions of employers like Yale-New Haven Hospital, combined with private sector union density rates of less than 8 percent, demonstrate that the deck is stacked unfairly against them.

Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employee Free Choice Act. In response to a special interest-funded smear campaign to distort the truth about the bill, President Bush threatened a veto. His allies in the Senate filibustered, effectively blocking a vote on the legislation.

The prospect of electing a new administration and tipping the balance in the U.S. Senate this November has brought back the same front groups that spent millions deceiving the public last year. The National Journal recently reported the nationwide anti-worker network is planning to shell out nearly $100 million to maintain the status quo.

Since the 1970s, this loose-knit coalition of ultra-conservative think tanks and anti-public service legal groups have waged an all out-assault on Americans' rights to freedom of association. Deceptively named groups, such as the National Right to Work Committee, which have deep ties to free market radicals like Grover Norquist, are once again manipulating economic fears to achieve their political goals.

But this Labor Day, we have more reason to be hopeful about closing the gap between rich and poor in America than we have had in decades and this optimism should be shared by businesses and working families alike. We should be united for this opportunity to elect new leadership in November committed to passing and signing the Employee Free Choice Act into law.

Michael J. O'Brien is a supervising sanitary engineer with the state Department of Environmental Protection and president of the Connecticut State Employee Association/SEIU Local 2001.