We are frequent visitors to Maine, a state we love for its breathtaking natural beauty and its proud place in America’s history, including the courage of Maine men and women during the American Revolution and Civil War.

We also stand with the majority of Mainers who are outraged by the governor’s decision to remove the mural by artist Judy Taylor.

The mural, depicting Maine’s meaningful labor history — its best and its worst, including child labor — belongs in Maine’s Department of Labor, and no individual has the right to remove it without the consent of the people.

We see this mean-spirited decision as a blatant attack on working people and unions by a governor who has proclaimed his intention to make Maine a right-to-work state.

He is trying to turn back the clock to an era when it was much easier to exploit men, women and children by destroying the one thing that guarantees a working person his or her rights — a union.

The outcry over his actions throughout Maine is thrilling.

Eli Siegel, the founder of the education Aesthetic Realism, has explained: “The most important thing in industry is the person who does the industry, which is the worker. Labor is the only source of wealth. There is no other source, except land, the raw material.”

This statement is an honoring of the dignity of all working men and women and should be on the walls of every state department of labor in the country. We say: Return the murals to their rightful place.

Carol Driscoll and Harvey Spears

New York, N.Y.