It saddens me to read the propaganda of right-to-work activists. After 20 years in the work force, my family is enjoying exceptional wages and outstanding benefits, with a secure, livable pension to look forward to. Why? Because my husband was fortunate enough to land a union job. Union jobs offer wages that have allowed us to buy a home, build a savings, and permitted me the luxury of quitting a low-paying, poor benefits job to stay home and raise my family. Union dues are not extortion. They guarantee a safe work environment, job security, exceptional health care, dental, and vision benefits. When my husband retires, we will enjoy a sizeable pension. Union jobs are the ticket to keeping the American Dream and the Middle Class alive. Right-to-work states have notoriously high poverty levels, accompanied by notoriously high welfare rates. Why? Because wages are not livable, jobs are not secure, and benefits are laughable, if not non-existant. There are little incentatives for citizens to leave the world of guaranteed government financial support and healthcare coverage. Is the management of unions perfect? No,of course not. Nor is any other management of millions of people. But it will continue to be the reason any individual can attain the life they always wanted.