Election 2016: Members Speak Out
Dean Showers
Local 6996
Dean Showers, 62, of Reading, Pa., has been a Steelworker for 44 years and has been president of USW Local 6996 for the past 16. He works for Hofmann Industries, which locked him and 57 other USW members out on March 6, 2011 and is operating the steel tubing plant with replacement workers.
“I have personally felt that sword, what unfair trade does to collective bargaining. Hofmann contends it cannot pay union wages because of imports. And there have been so many plant closings and downsizings in our core industries, aluminum, steel and glass because of unfair trade.
“My hometown, Reading, when I graduated from high school, you could go and work for any of four or five union manufacturers. Now it is hard to find family-sustaining work. The city has been decimated by free trade back to NAFTA. It was designated one of the poorest cities in the country four or five years ago.
“So this election this year is personal to me. I can’t support a politician who supports free trade. I am glad to see Hillary Clinton came out against the TPP. We as workers need to focus on issues that affect us the most, and that starts with trade. Trump is a hypocrite. He claims to be all for America and yet he manufacturers everything with his name on it overseas.”
