Ex-coach Nick Saban says pro-union comments taken out of context

Former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban says a pro-union group used his comments about player unionization without his permission and took them out of context. 

The advertisement, airing in Alabama ahead of a Mercedes-Benz union vote, features positive comments the coach made about athletes unionizing. Mr. Saban says More Perfect Union Solidarity, the group behind the ad, didn’t ask his permission before using his voice. 

“Not only were these comments taken entirely out of context, they were also being used without my knowledge or permission. I do not personally endorse the [United Auto Workers] or its campaign and have asked the UAW to remove any advertisements featuring me from circulation,” Mr. Saban said in a statement. “I encourage all team members to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election.”

While the ad is still airing on TV in the area, it was taken down from More Perfect Union Solidarity’s website. 

In the ad, Mr. Saban says: “It never scares me that people are organized. General Motors and the automotive industry has had unions for a long time, and they’ve survived fairly well, I think. There’s been a lot of businesses that have been successful and worked with unions for many, many years. So I’m not anti-union. Unionize it, make it like the NFL.”

While More Perfect Union Solidarity expressed sympathy with Mr. Saban’s position about pulling his quote, it maintained it didn’t take the coach’s words out of context. 

“I understand that, in the closing moments of a union drive at the Vance plant, he’s probably getting pressure from the Mercedes leadership to speak out, so he felt he needed to say something,” More Perfect Union Solidarity President Faiz Shakir said in a statement. “We didn’t take anything Coach said out of context; we presented his public statements exactly as he made them; and we’d ask people to watch the ad and judge for themselves.”

Mr. Saban’s comments come during a historic union election in the state. Workers at Mercedes’ Vance, Alabama, plant are in the middle of voting to accept union representation by the United Auto Workers. Voting began Monday and is expected to finish Friday.