Yesterday, at a Glenn Grothman town hall in Two Rivers, Wisconsin workers booed Scott Walker’s failed jobs record. After constituents talked about their own struggles with finding work, Grothman defended Scott Walker, at which point the room erupted into loud boos.
American Bridge spokesperson Lizzy Price made the following comment:
“It’s no surprise Wisconsin workers are fed up with Scott Walker–he’s failed to fulfill his promises of job creation as Governor and by doing so, has failed Wisconsin.”
Check out the footage below.
Transcript:
Wisconsin worker: “Ironworks closed their doors. I worked there for 45 years since I was 18 years old. I’d like to know why you and the rest of the Republicans in this state didn’t even bother coming to help us and try to save this company of 123 years. Everybody talks about jobs, jobs, jobs – you just did. What about saving the jobs we have? These were all good paying jobs, Congressman. $50-60,000 a year. And they’re gone. Completely gone. The only person that helped us any bit was Tammy Baldwin. She met with us. She got us our TAA. I went through school to get a CDL to drive. I just graduated last week. I’m 64 years old – I shouldn’t have to go to work no more. I did 45 years in that rotten, miserable place. You should walk through a foundry once.”
Rep. Grothman: “I do tour foundries in my district. I toured the Neenah Foundry not long ago. I know over time, they are improving the conditions in those foundries and as you just heard, I mentioned that we need more people working in highly-skilled manufacturing. As you know right now, our unemployment rate in Wisconsin is some of the lowest it’s been in a long period of time. As far as people in the Manitowoc and Two Rivers area, I recently toured the *inaudible* they’re looking for people to work and in Sheboygan County, things are, you know. The number one complaint I get is that they can’t find people to work and throughout my entire career, I have aimed as much as I can to help manufacturing so there are good jobs out there. And I think there are good jobs out there. Now right now, in the Manitowoc and Two Rivers area, there’s a little bit of a downturn but Sheboygan, Appleton, things are moving. And our, um, our competitive situation in Wisconsin – I would stack up almost against anybody. Now right now there are some people who fight manufacturing. There are some people who feel that they’re not paying enough taxes. I do what I can to look out for manufacturing. When the final tax bill comes through, one of my goals, like I just said, is to make sure manufacturing doesn’t get short shrift. You say you work in Calumet County.”
Wisconsin worker: “I work in Calumet County – I live in Manitowoc.”
Rep. Grothman: “As you know, I don’t represent Calumet county, the number one thing I look at when I vote on legislation is how it affects manufacturing. Obviously for certain reasons, a given number of plants are going to close, but the important thing is when a plant closes, new jobs pop up all around. And I’m glad you found a new place to work.”
Wisconsin worker: “I didn’t find it yet. I just got my certificate. I got to start looking. I feel like I shouldn’t even have to do this. I’m old enough to retire. I didn’t plan on this yet and somebody pulled the rug out.”
Rep. Grothman: “Well you said you are 64 years old. Well, I wish we could lower the retirement age across the board but you know, right now, Medicare, Social Security, going to have a hard time lowering that because we’re trying to keep it around forever. But I do think right now, especially thanks to Gov. Walker, there’s a very strong *inaudible*”
Crowd: “Boo”
Published: Nov 20, 2017