CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN MAYOR RON ANDERS AND OPELIKA MAYOR GARY FULLER
LEE COUNTY —
To the Editor:
In the 1950s, over 50% of American workers were unionized. Today, the percentage of American workers who are unionized is approximately 10%. The numbers for just the private sector are even less at approximately 6%. The public sector which was hardly unionized in 1950 now has a third of its workers unionized.
Why have workers over the past 70 years in the private sector decided that they don’t need third party representation? I believe it is because workers, especially in today’s modern manufacturing environment, realize that the companies they work for pay fairly and treat their employees with respect.
The recent headline in [the] newspaper announcing that GE Aviation, part of one of the nation’s greatest companies, is facing a unionization effort by some of its employees was distressing.
The South has benefited greatly by companies desiring the freedom to be competitive and innovative by moving to Southern right to work states.
GE Aviation is one of the leading aerospace companies in the country, but it faces very stiff competition. It does not need the red tape that unions always bring with them.
The competition for the industries in Auburn-Opelika is national, and often international. It would be a shame for a union to try to dictate how the company operates in this ultra-competitive environment.
Auburn Mayor Ron Anders
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller