Election 2016: Members Speak Out
Katrina Fitzgerald
Local 1123
Katrina Fitzgerald, 36, of Canton, Ohio, is a 16-year member of Local 1123 at Timken Steel and chairs the local’s grievance committee.
“There are such extremes in the political agendas this election.
“The ideology and hatred that Trump is spewing is just absurd and out of this world. His racial comments are creating more division and increasing the hatred in this country. We can’t get behind someone who belittles people.”
Fitzgerald supports Hillary Clinton because of her commitment to domestic manufacturing, organized labor, affordable health care and the elimination of income inequality.
“Income inequality is beyond outrageous. It’s sad. Many years ago, decades ago, we passed equal pay legislation and we still don’t see equal pay. Women are still only paid 78 cents on the dollar compared to men, unless you belong to a union.
“We are the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have public health care that is actually affordable. It’s sad that our health is for profit.
“We need infrastructure improvements. A lot of our infrastructure has been neglected for decades. Hillary’s plan to upgrade the infrastructure should create good manufacturing jobs.
“Manufacturing is important. When you have good-paying union jobs in an area, businesses thrive on those good jobs. They help restaurants, gas stations, the entire community.
“When those good jobs vanish so do mom-and-pop businesses. It snowballs. As you lose manufacturing jobs and small businesses, you lose the tax base that funds everything for the community. Everything and everyone suffers.”
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