Pennsylvania Workers are Tired of Trump’s Broken Promises

By Rachel Reh

In 2016, Donald Trump campaigned in Pennsylvania and vowed to supercharge the state’s economy. He didn’t.

Some voters of the labor force who went for Trump in 2016 are starting to realize that another four years under a Trump administration will only make Pennsylvanians sicker and more destitute. On the same day the CDC reported Pennsylvania’s meat production workers had the highest rates of COVID-19 in the nation, many workers from a poultry packing plant in Lebanon County — where Trump won overwhelmingly in 2016 — were protesting unsafe working conditions. In other shuttered industries, workers unrepresented by unions fared worse: Dermot Delude-Dix, a research analyst with a local that represents workers at hotels and stadiums, said they were at a serious low point, with “maybe 95% or more [of their members] laid off.”

The labor vote in Pennsylvania and other Rust Belt states is key to securing the election. Though Trump still manages to draw fervent support from Erie to Johnstown, many are fatigued by the chaos and fed up with his pandemic response. Barry Hixson, president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 459, told press he is finding more and more Trump defectors at shop meetings: “They’ll pull me aside after a meeting and say, ‘I’m not doing that again.’”

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate reached 16.1% in April, roughly doubling the peak of the 2009 recession. And for Doug Anderson, whose family operated school buses in four districts near the Pittsburg area, laying off loyal employees has been one of the harder parts of this year. “It was hard to say goodbye to people,” he said. “Some of my employees have been with us for more than 50 years. It’s a killer.” Trump likes to focus on the stock market’s status as an overall indicator of the country’s health, but most Americans can’t go by that scale, including the state of Pennsylvania, which was hit by more jobless claims than any other state back in March.

“I think he’s letting the American worker down.”

Like many Pennsylvania union workers, Ron Dombkowski was convinced that the president would fulfill his promise to bring back manufacturing jobs. Instead, he’s seen Trump weaken worker protections and undermine unions on a large scale. “I think he’s letting the American worker down.” Facing his own wage cuts, plus the closure of neighboring GM Lordstown plant, have contributed to Dombrowski’s harsh reality in the current administration, which include Trump putting political cronies on the National Labor Relations Board, rolling back overtime protections, and weakening the collective bargaining rights of federal employees.

On top of the relentless attacks of Pennsylvania’s workforce, Trump spent the eleventh hour of his campaign issuing thinly veiled threats to the Democratic Governor Tom Wolf. Speaking in Allentown, Trump lamented obstacles to secure a venue for another one of his egotistical rallies that would endanger thousands of residents in the state: “I’ll remember it, Tom,” he warned. “I’m gonna remember it, Tom.”

Pennsylvanians will remember too. Trump has let Pennsylvania’s unions, workers, and families down. All of his promises on a strong economy that prioritizes the worker never materialized — and he’s campaigning on a failed legacy. Pennsylvanians deserve better than four more years of Trump.