I've been following Credit Union Times' coverage of the labor situation between the Office of Professional Employees International Union Local 39 and CUNA Mutual, especially the article in your June 23 issue ("CUNA Mutual and Union Still at Odds; AFL-CIO Initiates Letter Writing Campaign on Behalf of Union") and a letter to the editor in your July 21st issue, "Union Needs to Wake Up." When the parties are far apart, as the two sides here seem to be, that is exactly why you use a mediator. A mediator can't force either side to do anything, but they get the parties to talk. In the early 1990′s, when there was a campaign to tax credit unions, the labor movement came out clearly against taxing CUs. I believe my union, the Communications Workers of America, was the first to pass a resolution at its annual convention against taxation of CUs; in fact so many delegates wanted to speak, that I had to run to get to speak (I was one of 2,000 delegates at the convention). My point is that the labor movement and the credit union movement are allies in the struggle for a better life for working people. It's time for the two sides in this labor dispute to sit down and talk, to each other, or to a mediator. C. Richard Wagner Director, Municipal Credit Union, N.Y. and President, Communications Workers of America Local 1183