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Union given the boot by Mayo employees in Fairmont

To the Editor:

Two months ago, on Jan. 3, 2022, in the National Labor

Relations Board (NLRB) Case Number 18-RD-288362,

a petition to push the Teamsters Local 120 union out of

Mayo hospital in Fairmont was officially received. This

petition was circulated by Mayo employees. Results of

that petition were certified two months later on March 7.

After forty years of union protection Mayo employees no

longer had union help and power. The workers are now

alone. A worker alone is a worker without any power.

Interestingly, on the NLRB web page, the "petitioner"

listed on the Mayo Clinic Health System of Fairmont

NLRB case was the well-known anti-union organization:

the National Right to Work Legal Foundation. Why would

a nationally known anti-union organization come to Fairmont?

The answer? To, (as it turns out successfully) influence

and guide Mayo employees to leave Teamsters. Who

invited this organization to Fairmont?

In the United States, unions are under intense pressure

from corporations and dark money funded anti-union organizations

to fall off the face of the earth. In the 1950s

union membership was at its highest in the United States,

around 35 million workers. Today, membership is down

to 10 million. If individuals would take a moment, they

would see that they are lucky if given the chance to belong

to a union. With a union, you have someone behind you.

Unions have helped workers for decades, through hard

fought fights, for shorter hours, better safety, vacation

time, better wages and much, much more. Support worker's

rights and union power.

Peter G. Engstrom

Starting at /week.