Senator Sununu’s article in the NH Union Leader U.S. workers right to a secret ballot must be protected 6/21/07 further proves the points that a. Senator Sununu has never worked in an environment were he has had to answer to an employer and he thinks when real wages are down in his State he must be doing a good job. The senator emphasizes in his article that big labor is trying to pass legislation that makes it easier for employees to form unions in their work place by stripping the secret ballot process that is currently in place. That by doing this labor is acting un-American and trying to strip Americans of their democracy. Senator Sununu also mentions the declining membership of unions in his article insinuating that employees are losing interest or refuse to join unions. What senator Sununu doesn’t mention in his article is that the major reason for the decline in union membership is because of the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs do to the free trades agreements that he supports or that given the opportunity 80% of the workforce in the country would join a union. Currently when employees try to form a union in their workplace they do so by asking their fellow employees who would like to become part of a collective bargaining effort to sign authorization cards if the majority of employees sign these cards 51% then the employees can take these results to management and ask to be recognized. Management then has the right to refuse the card check election and call for a secret ballot election. This is the time that all fairness and any so called democracy is thrown out the window. Management will now use every trick they can to try to convince their employees that forming a union will make them worse off. There are numerous lawyers and consultants that make a very good living coaching these companies on how to convince their employees that joining a union is a bad thing , and they do this on company time were the employees are mandated to attend. They will make the workplace a living hell leading up to the so-called secret election and try to convince the employees that if a union is formed you can expect more of the same. Given the tactics these employers use it is a wonder any unions are ever formed. Only true employees can totally understand the pressures that can be put on from management that is why I can understand why Senator John Sununu doesn’t. Senator Sununu has never had to struggle to make a payment in his life how could he understand the pressure that can be put on an employee that absolutely can not afford to be unemployed, or their life and that of their families would be drastically changed forever.                 Or maybe the problem is he does understand he just doesn’t care!!!         Joe Casey