Editor:

It is time for our community to see economic growth not only as attracting new business, but also protecting the business we already have. To accomplish that we must ensure Washington does not take from us what we worked so hard to build and hand it to special interests.

A current threat looms large: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Each of us needs to tell our congressmen and senators to vote against this legislation. This new law would change the rules for union elections so the unions can easily force their way into local business. It also limits the ability of a business to explain the downside of unionization to their employees. Unions could even be created in workplaces where many employees doubt their value. This legislation makes it difficult for savvy workers -- those who understand that unionization would be a losing proposition -- to have a voice in the proceedings.

Union membership has dwindled in recent decades largely because it doesn't provide workers with any better deal than in nonunion workplaces. Employees too often discover, once it is too late, that they receive no payback for their union dues; they simply fund their union's bureaucracy and political activities. In many cases, the union presses an employer to provide workers with short-term gains that the business cannot sustain. That's when companies fail and jobs are lost.

We are proud to employ 60-plus people in our textile rental business based here in Wyoming. We also are proud of our great working relations with our employees. But we see the EFCA as a major threat to our local economy. Such peril must be removed to maintain our business, protect our employees' jobs and protect the millions of other jobs that are threatened across the country.

JESS HINKLE, Lander

President, Eagle Uniform & Supply Co.