Rebuttal: Labor directs insurance company

It's not surprising that Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney sang the praises of American Income Life insurance company in a column ("Union partnerships work," Oct. 21). American Income Life is the labor movement's insurer of choice.

Gaffney praised AIL for its "forward-thinking" business model, but the only thing forward-thinking about AIL is its attention to who writes the checks.

The company covers almost 10 million union members as the source of its $45 billion in assets. Despite this, union leaders continue to tout AIL as an shining leader of "business" support of the Employee Free Choice Act. This is laughable. The company's Labor Advisory Board reads like a "Who's Who" of the labor movement -- Richard Trumka, president of the national AFL-CIO; John Sweeney, former president of the national AFL-CIO; Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; and James Hoffa, president of Teamsters -- to name a few.

If the Employee Free Choice Act passes and millions more Americans are unionized, AIL "business" will explode as more workers are forced to take coverage from the company. Far from being a successful "business," AIL is a company that knows it shouldn't bite the hand that feeds it -- or the hand that pull the strings.

Richard Berman ,

Executive Director, Center for Union Facts,

Washington, D.C.