To the Editor:

Re: “Hotel and ILR: Two Diametrically Opposed Entities on the Hill,” Opinion, March 11

I enjoy my friendly rivalries as much as the next proud ILRie, but this op-ed contains misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and an overstatement of student opinions. First, secret ballot elections after National Labor Relations Board hearings are still permissible under EFCA if an employer raises “a question of representation affecting commerce.” Historically, employers have had few legal obstacles to removing unions without secret ballot elections, and labor opponents rarely protest for “voting rights of workers” when unions are dismantled. Union decertification is also still a secret ballot election and requires only 30-percent of employees to set it in motion. Moreover, the op-ed also provides no evidence that unionization in the hospitality industry would destroy profit margins, especially when EFCA has the potential to prevent the costly strikes that do real damage to labor and management.

I understand that the author’s tone is meant to be humorous, but it oversimplifies the intellectual diversity of ILR and Hotel. EFCA has many friends in ILR, of course, and I am one of them. ILR-based groups like the Cornell Organization for Labor Action are working hard to make EFCA a reality (at present, the bill has only been introduced in Congress, contrary to the op-ed’s claim). However, EFCA has its detractors within ILR, just as I am sure it has supporters in the Hotel School. The best way to ensure that the voices in Ives and Statler are respected is to report the facts about EFCA without hyperbole or half-truth.

Patricia Moscoso ’11