As a retired, taxpaying Democrat, I started reading Harold Jackson's column "Democrats have labor card but must play it right" (Sunday) expecting a blanket attack on the "anti-union" efforts going on around the country.
As a former vice president of a Philadelphia-based manufacturer, I have a long history with private-sector unions. Despite tough negotiations (and short strikes), I always felt that the unions provided a voice and leverage necessary to maintain a balance within the community of interest we shared as employees of a company competing in the marketplace. I also came to realize that no such community of interest exists in the public sector. "Negotiations" are held in secret between unions and some party whose interests are not necessarily those of the community (i.e. getting reelected, padding their own pensions, assuring protection from rising health-care insurance costs).
