The American economy is on the brink of collapse and needs to be renovated from the ground up. Americans now have an opportunity to show where their allegiances lie – either with the corporate executives who have let the economy collapse, or with the workers of this nation, who can build it back even stronger by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.

As a young person soon to be entering the job market, I am very sensitive to what the economy will look like when I graduate. People of this generation may very well see lower wages than their parents.

Though the economic future may be murky, what is clear is that the ability to unionize is critical to putting strength back in stagnating wages. Political and economic leaders urge Americans to spend to strengthen the economy, but that money must be in people’s pockets first. Unions can shift the power and the money of corporate executives to the workers.

My father was in a union in his early years and benefited greatly from it. At almost 20, I know very few young workers who are unionized. Much of that stems from the number of Americans employed by corporations that actively seek to obstruct the right to organize and utilize a union. The Employee Free Choice Act would take back that right.

American workers need unions, and America needs the Employee Free Choice Act.

Andrew Fitzgerald, Lewiston