Published: June 02, 2009 10:06 pm         

Readers’ Forum: June 3, 2009 11 pm

Strong labor needed for ample recovery

TERRE HAUTE — Our economy was out of whack long before the pain became this severe. For decades, working families have had to take second jobs, credit cards and toxic loans just to keep the rising health care, gas and grocery bills at bay.

Leading economists point to one disturbing trend in particular: while workers became much more productive over the last 25 years, our wages stayed flat.

So where did all that money go? You guessed it. The wealth that we worked so hard to create was wasted on the wealthy few.

We’ve been held back by a corporate culture that prevents workers from bargaining collectively for better wages and benefits. Every year, tens of thousands of workers are harassed, intimidated and fired for trying to organize unions.

A Gallup poll shows that a solid majority of Americans support legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions and negotiate for better health care, wages and job security. Millions of Americans want to form and join unions, but they shouldn’t have to risk their livelihoods in the process.

That’s why Congress recently introduced the Employee Free Choice Act — legislation that will let workers decide how they want to form a union. It will put an end to the current company-controlled process and increase penalties for employers who break the law.

President Obama supports this common sense legislation, because he knows that we can’t rebuild a strong middle class without a strong labor movement.

— Bill Treash

Terre Haute

Recycling effort

worth expanding

Recently, there has been much media attention given to the recycling program of plastic bottles at Terre Haute South Vigo High School. As president of the Student Council, the organization in charge of this program, I would like to thank the Tribune-Star and WTWO for bringing this important topic to the public’s attention.

As you may or may not know, members of South’s Student Council have set up many recycling bins for plastic throughout the school at strategic locations. We collect these bags twice a week, haul them to our cars, and transport them to Goodwill Recycling. This program has been going on for the past two months. We have tremendous support from the students, staff, administration at South High School and the Vigo County School Corp., for which we are very thankful.

Our goal is not only to continue this program, but also to expand it (collecting through the summer time, collecting plastics at sporting events, etc.). In the future, we hope that the school corporation will adopt similar programs in all other schools as well.

As much as we want to achieve our goal, we are limited by manpower, time, and resources. We would appreciate public encouragement and continued support from the administration. Thank you.

— Sangeeth Jeevan

President of Student Council

Terre Haute South

Vigo High School