The May 4 “Local View” column headlined, “ Offer Minnesota Nice to non-union, non-local contractors ,” missed a critical point of the O’Reilly Auto Parts story. The writer thanked O’Reilly for investing in our community, but, in fact, the retail chain has chosen not to invest fully in our community by bringing in out-of-state construction workers to build its new store here.
We have some of the most well-trained construction workers in the country. Why wouldn’t O’Reilly officials use local labor to build a local store? It seems they are willing to profit from the Hermantown community but are not willing to create good-paying construction jobs in turn. For our community to invest in businesses, businesses must invest in us.
In these difficult times, it would have gone a long way to hire a local workforce. Minnesota union construction jobs are family-supporting jobs that have a crucial impact on our local economy. Hiring locally encourages local economic development and strengthens our tax base. When projects are built by out-of-town workers, we miss out on these economic benefits to our community.
We should urge O’Reilly to fully invest in the communities it serves by offering jobs to local workers.
Craig Olson
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Duluth
