Trump Said He Would Bring Jobs Back…He Lied!
By Larry Alexander
Larry Alexander
Companies like Honeywell are breaking their promises to workers — and the Republicans don’t care
I spent much of my life working at the Bendix plant in South Bend, Ind.
After returning from serving in Vietnam, I clocked in each day for more than 30 years to build brake systems for fighter jets and other military and aerospace components.
So, last summer, it was a shock to me, and to my more than 4,000 fellow retirees, when Honeywell — which was originally owned by Bendix — betrayed us by taking away our retiree health care benefits. Retirement coverage was what we were promised and owed in exchange for putting in years of hard, skilled, dangerous work.
When we tried to raise the issue with our own member of Congress, Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), she refused to even return our phone calls. When we tried to talk to her in person at a debate, she walked right past us.
Then there’s President Trump, who was here in May 2018 and told us how much he loves workers.
“Jobs are booming,” he said. “We have the most jobs available in the history of our country. Car companies are coming back to the United States. We’re expanding our plants. We love our farmers. We’re taking care of our farmers. And we love our factory workers. We love our workers.”
But he hasn’t done a thing to help working people. He’s picked a side in the war on workers, and it’s definitely not the side of working people.
You know who did meet with us? Bernie Sanders. Unlike so many politicians, he’s on our side, not the side of the not corporations.
Until recently, the Honeywell plant had a long, proud history in South Bend. It was first owned by Bendix, a company that treated its workers like family. But Honeywell has done the opposite. It’s disrespected that tradition by prioritizing profits over people.
Besides cutting our retiree health care benefits, which has left so many of us worried and wondering how we’re going to make ends meet, they are shipping jobs overseas.
Trump and the Republicans in Congress, like Rep. Walorski, could demand that if the Honeywell wants want to keep their lucrative government contracts that have brought record profits, they have to keep their promises to workers like me. That includes treating workers fairly and not taking away our hard-earned benefits.
But the Republicans are too busy breaking their own promises to hold a company like Honeywell accountable.
That’s why we need to elect Bernie Sanders and others like him.
We need a president who follows through on his promises.
We need a government that stands with working people.
