Election 2016: Members Speak Out
Scott Mathie
Local 1123
Scott Mathie, 42, of Louisville, Ohio, is treasurer of Local 1123. He works for Timken Steel and has been a USW member for 16 years.
“Every year they say this is the most important election of our lifetime, and it is when you look at the erosion and attack on the middle class in America. I can no longer tolerate that and I don’t think any hard-working American should tolerate that.
“I’m supporting Hillary because she is a champion of the middle and working class.
“When she was younger, she did a lot of work for children and I know she cares about children with developmental disabilities. I have a daughter with developmental disabilities so that strikes home.
“The easy way to explain this is she gets us. When Donald Trump speaks it’s just speech. When she says it, she means it because she feels it. She gets it. She knows us.
“I think she will recognize the obstacles and the bad things that have been in our way that keep us from progressing as a union and the middle class from growing. The larger the middle class tax base, the more money we have to do better things – better roads, better schools and better hospitals.
“Obviously, Hillary Clinton is anti-Trans-Pacific Partnership. I’m hoping she will revisit some of the other trade agreements and tries to modify them so they are fair trade agreements, not free trade agreements.
“She will grow the middle class, and create better jobs. If her infrastructure proposal passes with Buy America provisions, we can generate thousands upon thousands of jobs, which will create a larger, stronger middle class. Increasing the tax base would increase so many opportunities for so many people in so many ways.”
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