ANDREA SILBERT lists a number of ways that government should get involved in reducing poverty in the United States ("A new type of capitalism," Op-ed, Oct. 30). She misses the most obvious and proven method of fighting poverty, a method that costs the taxpayer nothing. Let workers join unions. Thirty years of collusion by government and business interests have stripped US workers of their right to freely choose to be in a union (or not) without fear of losing their jobs. As a result, productivity (wealth created by workers) has dramatically increased while real wages (compensation for productivity) have dropped. Silbert should add to her list of steps passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore the right of American workers to bargain for fair compensation for our labor. SUSAN MOIR Director Labor Resource Center University of Massachusetts at Boston