Volkswagen auto workers voted for union representation at a Chattanooga plant recently with 2,628 workers voting for union representation, or 73 percent, and 985 against. This is the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South form a union, and it is a great win for working women and men in America.

Volkswagen can afford to pay fair wages, provide competitive benefits and honor union-worker protections after making $75 billion in profits the past three years.

What about the airplane mechanics at Singapore-owned ST Engineering in Pensacola?

I understand reluctance to embrace unions, as I have spent an aviation career having union dues routinely deducted from my paycheck. A wise man once said: “everybody hates unions, until they need one.”

The average annual salary for aircraft mechanics is $76,260, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Florida has the second highest employment rate for aircraft mechanics in the country, where the average annual salary is $70,290.

Even though the city, county and state have handed out tens of millions in economic incentives to ST Engineering, we learned the median pay for employees was $47,109.40 – 40% below the national average – as ST Engineering sought more public funding for an expansion project that approved by the Pensacola City Council.

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Aircraft mechanics are undercompensated in Pensacola. ST Engineering needs to increase wages to align with the importance of the work performed, job requirements and increased cost of living here. This is a highly skilled trade. Home prices in Tennessee, Florida and Alabama have increased significantly, and young people can barely afford to live as housing affordability dramatically impacts the middle class. The South is no longer an inexpensive place to live.

Volkswagen thanked workers for voting in the election. In Germany, corporations collaborate with unions and often include union representatives on corporate boards to assist with strategic corporate decisions.

Will a Singapore corporation take the same collaborative position? Better yet, will ST Engineering consider competitive wages and improved work rules for Pensacola-based employees?

This is a breakthrough moment for workers in the South.

Not surprisingly, there has been hostility from some elected officials. A few Southern governors signed a joint statement the week of the organizing vote, ironically, using scare tactics to oppose “misinformation and scare tactics (unions) brought into our states.”

It is no surprise to see this sort of labor hostility, which serves as a reminder of a long hostility toward basic worker rights in the South. But angst against labor unions is out of date and out of touch.

Workers and their families know wages have declined when adjusted for inflation. Job security and work rules seem non-existent in the gig economy. American workers deserve better, and there needs to be a change of mindset towards workers and their families. Workers should not be treated merely like full-time equivalents (FTE) balanced on spreadsheets against shareholder profits.

I know the benefits of unions. So do passengers on Cactus Flight 1549, a plane flown by Sully and Jeff Skiles that was forced to land in the Hudson River in 2009. Every trade in that miraculous landing and rescue was represented by a union – the pilots, flight attendants, and ferry crews. The police, firefighters and air traffic controllers. They all responded with the professionalism their unions insured they were trained for. The Miracle on the Hudson was union made.

Now more than ever, we need unions. They need to be more cooperative than in the past and interact with communities promoting the benefits of a healthy and appropriately compensated workforce. And we need corporations too. Executives need to be more humanistic and recognize people over profits.

John Herron is an airline pilot and was a legislative affairs representative and labor negotiator on behalf of airline pilots. He resides in Pensacola where he was a Navy flight instructor. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the Temple University School of Law and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: ST Engineering mechanics need wage increase | Guestview