My parents too came from very poor families. My dad was raised in Rex, Ga., and mother in Tucker, Ga. Neither finished high school, but my dad did have enough math training to help me with my algebra. He didn’t arrive at the answer like I did but he got the right answer.
When I saw Timothy J. Parker’s letter to The Citizen, March 2, 2011, I felt I had to respond.
Dad and Mother both worked in a hat factory for a while. Then sometime early in life Dad joined the union and when I was 6 he was sent to Savannah to work in the shipyards building ships for World War II.
My dad always preached when you buy clothes, food, etc., make sure it is made in the USA. Oh, how I wish we all had followed that advice.
He told us when you bought clothes they not only had to be made in the USA but have the “union bug” on the label.
I also remember Dad and the other union members striking for higher wages and he would be out of work for days or weeks until the strike was settled.
Mother, who made most of our clothes, would always say that every time they struck that our bread went up a nickel. Well, it seems that she said it right. However, today items go up a dollar or so instead of a nickel.
I was raised on union money and in those early years the unions kept the sweat shops from operating and did many other good things.
With our economy the way it is, all of us have to realize that we must be willing to sacrifice — even the union employees.
We can’t continue to drain our employers when they are broke. We shouldn’t ask our federal government to spend money they continue to borrow to support government-unionized employees.
The private sector is going unemployed. These government-unionized employees should be glad to have a job. If union jobs are good enough for the states, the federal government should not ban collective bargaining.
Barbara Felth
Peachtree City, Ga.
