On Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune published a column by Dennis Byrne criticizing Chicago's unions and questioning their solidarity.  On Wednesday, Chicago Federation of Labor president Dennis Gannon stood up for Chicago's working families.

This is in response to columnist Dennis Byrne's "The problem with unions" (Commentary, July 7). What is perhaps most disappointing about Byrne's analysis of Chicago's unions is not that he fails to see the value of collective bargaining to protect workers and instead would prefer to give full authority to corporate interests, the likes of which have driven our country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. After all, he is a well-known and respected conservative voice writing in the Chicago Tribune opinion pages, a steady critic of organized labor. That's not surprising. But what needs to be called out is the misinformation driving his off-base conclusions about solidarity among Chicago's hardworking union members, particularly those who deliver the city's essential services to its residents, during its current budget shortfall. He's right that solidarity is our credo. That is why members from almost 40 different unions have agreed to make personal, financial sacrifices in order to save the jobs of 1,504 of their brothers and sisters. In some cases, unions' bargaining units aren't facing a high number of layoffs within city departments. For some of them, it's only a handful. The easy thing for them to say would be, "Lay off the 1,504. It doesn't affect me or the people in my union. We dodged a bullet. " Instead, what they said is, "Don't lay them off. I'll make a sacrifice to save their jobs because that is what the labor movement stands for." This is the definition of solidarity -- a shared sacrifice to make sure 1,504 families don't lose their homes to foreclosure, lose their health-care benefits or lose out on the ability to send their children to college.

Byrne writes that unions are throwing their members under the bus when in fact they have been doing the opposite, working closely with city officials to protect their members, eliminate the need for layoffs and keep city services intact. During uncertain economic times like these, more working people in both the public and private sectors wished they had a union to fight for their jobs as well. Unions have always been the biggest defender of the middle class, and that will never change. To question the value of unions can be chalked up to a difference of opinions that many disagree with. I proudly stand by Chicago's hardworking school teachers, public-service employees and those whose labor makes corporations and CEOs grow wealthier each day. But to question our solidarity is insulting to the half a million union members in Cook County and the 1 million members throughout Illinois who truly understand what it is like to fight for a middle class life.

-- Dennis J. Gannon, president, Chicago Federation of Labor AFL-CIO