Long Island workers deserve a sunnier forecast than what the Census reported last week ["Cloudy skies for laborers" Editorial, Sept. 1]. That 2007 was the first business cycle on record to see middle-class families end up with less inflation-adjusted income than when the cycle began is gloomy enough, but even worse news is that 2008 will be even gloomier.

As your editorial points out, union leaders are seeking better economic conditions by getting Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act - a bill that would make it harder for unscrupulous employers to block efforts by workers to join a union. Most workers say they want to be in a union, but never get a fair chance to join. Just 100,000 workers had the opportunity to vote in a union election this past year. That's because many companies, emboldened by weak labor laws, have successfully thwarted worker attempts to join unions.

While the campaign to provide workers greater employee free choice will partly depend on the political climate in Washington after the election, one point is clear: Union workers make more than nonunion workers. In New York, for example, low-wage union workers, such as cleaners and other service workers, earn 16 percent more than their nonunion counterparts and are 25 percent more likely to have employer-paid health care coverage and pensions.

The Employee Free Choice Act stands as one bright spot on an otherwise cloudy horizon for workers, but whether a new president and Congress are willing to stand up and usher in a new day remains to be seen.

Mike Fishman
Editor's note: The writer is president of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ.