All workers deserve fair labor rights

In his letter on unions and immigrants, Tom Shuford makes a farfetched connection between the AFL-CIO and illegal immigration, claiming that the North Carolina government, supposedly in cohorts with the AFL-CIO, is trying "to flood the low-skilled labor market with cheap, often illegal foreign labor." Such a statement couldn't be farther from the truth.

The immigration problem is not an imagined plot between government and unions to swamp the U.S. economy with undocumented workers.

The problem is lax enforcement of labor laws, which creates an incentive for corporations to recruit and hire undocumented workers. Because those workers are often unable to exercise their workplace rights, corporations have created an entire class of workers—numbering in the millions—who are forced to labor in substandard conditions.

The only way to remove the economic incentive to exploit workers — and thus diminish illegal immigration — is to ensure that all workers have full labor rights.

Since the 1930s unions have fought to give workers the right to bargain for better wages and benefits.

The Employee Free Choice Act, recently introduced in Congress, will ease the process of workers organizing to bargain for a better life. Working families making deplorable wages is harmful to any economy, and our laws should reflect a belief that workers should be able to earn a fair days wage for an honest day's work.

Jim Reel
Marion

Scare CEOs, ask them to be responsible

While there are many lapses of protocol and propriety in our current economic mess, one seems to stay below the surface of our leaders whom I used to assume had at least average intelligence.

Remember in Business 101, we learned that the board of directors represents the stockholders and, as such, has fiduciary responsibility on their behalf. They hire and direct the key personnel including the chief executive officer, provide strategic guidance and make major decisions and establish policy.

So, why in the world have the chairpersons not been called to task and asked to explain the actions of their companies?

Some wear two hats as chair and CEO, which by the way Congress placed some restrictions on several years ago. I won't even discuss the trite reasons justifying the many exceptions for not separating the duties.

Technically, the CEO is the No. 1 hired hand for a company, not its king or queen. Wonder if the boards know that?

In reality, the bigger the corporation, the more of a pretty face the board members are. Then consider their pay for such small effort.

Let's scare them and ask that they be responsible. Let's get back to basics.

Marshall Hiatt
Hickory

President a master at playing shell game

One has to give President Obama his due. It has been a long time since this country has had a leader that could play a shell game as well as he can.

In his press conference the other night, he was making sure the nation understood that he is going to give us better health, education and cleaner world while the rest of us try to figure out how to write a budget.

He reminded us of this five times. What he did not tell us was that this staged pep rally was one of a week-long group activities used get our minds off of the fact that the White House had messed up.

That's right. President Obama is the one who gave the OK to give the bonus to each individual. You say no? Then where does the buck stop?

Mike Ogle
Hickory