Commentary about unions missed the mark

As a retired attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, I believe Todd Hooper's recently published Marin Voice commentary (“Unions must evolve to truly benefit all workers,” April 16) demonstrates that he does not understand the purpose or role of labor unions in society.

Hooper wrote that unions have many stakeholders in addition to workers, and lists management and shareholders.

These groups do not look to labor unions to protect their interests, nor should they. A labor union is an association of workers formed to negotiate collectively with an employer to protect and further workers' rights and interests. Unions don't exist to protect other “stakeholders.”

The right of workers to organize is so important that it is enshrined in a law that is almost 100 years old. It is called the National Labor Relations Act. Hooper states that low unionization rates in the private sector are a result of (nonexistent) “constituencies” being disregarded. There are various reasons for low unionization rates, including the rise of the gig economy, hostile Republican office-holders, anti-union state laws and Republican presidents appointing members to labor/employment boards that are hostile to workers' interests.

When workers come together to bargain collectively their wages and working conditions improve. Hooper is wrong to imply that unions are irrelevant. They are as relevant today to improve workers' lives as when the first American labor union was established in 1794.

— Ruth Dell, Tiburon