June 22, 2011 9:31 PM

Unions became the whipping boy of Big Business and its handmaidens on Wall Street and at the Chamber of Commerce years ago. Only the heat has been turned up recently by GOP governor-led lynch mobs who have conspired to bust unions by ending collective bargaining by any means possible. In typical GOP fashion, the methodology chosen is "by hook or by crook." Yet the fact remains that the Golden Age of Economic Prosperity for workers in this country was achieved in large measure as a result of union membership and, hold your breath, the ability of workers to demand fair treatment through collective bargaining. Some people are too greedy, too naive or too uninformed to admit it, but the U.S. never would have had the explosion in middle class life were it not for unions. Yes, problems do exist with some unions and with some union activity, but they are correctable. Allowing businesses both large and small to run rough shod over their employees with impunity is a disaster in the making. Recent history only supports my point.