One item that Mr. Elliott forgot to mention in last week’s Montana Viewpoint article on forced union dues is that the unions always make huge monetary contributions to the Democrat Party. Since he was the chairman of the Montana Democrat Party for four years this fact could have been easily overlooked. In states without “right to work laws” a person is forced to join a union and have part of his dues go to the Democrat Party whether he likes it or not. They may say that your dues go into the left pocket while the political contributions come out of the right pocket so that makes everything OK.

When I first found out about this forced union participation many years ago my first thought was “is this America?” I can’t think of anything more un-American than that. I have been fortunate enough in my working career as a hydroelectric power engineer to have never been forced to join a union. However, I have worked with many union electricians and found that most are quite capable, but a few are totally incompetent and would be fired within minutes if not for their union. If a worker is competent and hardworking it pays the employer to reward him justly.

There was a time many years ago when unions were needed to protect the worker from abuse since the labor market was flooded with massive immigration keeping wages low and working conditions terrible. Sound familiar doesn’t it? The very people who now cry for unions are also the ones who cry for open borders and unlimited legal and illegal immigration. I think you know which party that is.

Robert Cheshire

Noxon, Montana