Reporter Bethany Bump's excellent article about the nurses' struggle to form a union at Albany Medical Center was an eye-opener ("Nurses approach decision day," April 8).

In 2018, in the capital of the most progressive state in the union, it is amazing and disturbing that nurses who seek to bring the American ideal of checks and balances to one of our great hospitals are subject to intimidation and bullying. This kind of anti-union animus is common to the deep South but should not be allowed to invade the progressive North. Nurses have a right, indeed an obligation, to have their professional voices respected: A democratic union will protect and promote that voice. One hundred years ago, nurses in Ireland formed the Irish Nurses Union. It is time for Albany to play catch-up.

Anthony McCann

Clifton Park