Vice President Pence finds support for USMCA at Manitowoc
SHADY GROVE, Pa. — Bryan Lewis pushed past his boss at Manitowoc Co. to get to someone he felt was a bit more important — at least on Thursday morning — at the Shady Grove crane-manufacturing plant.
“It was exciting, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shake the man’s hand,” Lewis said minutes after meeting Vice President Mike Pence. “He’s a leader.”
Pence visited Manitowoc, the only American-owned crane company that manufactures its product in the U.S., to stump for congressional passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
He addressed about 1,000 of the workers, who mostly donned the company’s red shirts, against a backdrop of a huge U.S. flag the company normally flies on patriotic holidays.
“We negotiated a deal that’s put American jobs and American workers first,” Pence told the crowd. “Mexico has already started to make the changes in their labor laws that they agreed to under this deal. And they’ve started to move approval. Canada has done the same thing.
“Now it’s time for Congress to do their job and approve the USMCA, and approve it this year.”
While Lewis is cautiously optimistic about the USCMA, fellow worker Jackson Roth is already on board.
“I dig it,” Roth, 24, said. “I’m all about USMCA.
“I think it will help the whole economy. I have a family that I want to get started on, and I think it’s going to be better for future generations.”
Pence said President Donald Trump has been delivering on his promise to grow American manufacturing with 6 million jobs created since Election Day, 2016. That includes, he said, 140,000 in Pennsylvania and 250 at Manitowoc, where the company has already invested nearly $50 million at its Shady Grove facility.
“The real credit goes to all of you,” said Pence. “And the comeback in American manufacturing is happening because of the men and women of this country who work in this great industry. And it’s thanks to great companies like Manitowoc in this economy that American manufacturing is rallying all across the country.”
Pence asked the workers to press their congressional representatives to pass the USMCA, which he said would “benefit 2 million manufacturing jobs, including 42,000 jobs right here in the Keystone State.”
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the USMCA would add $70 billion in investments and create as many as 175,000 new American jobs, Pence said.
“It’s going to create more jobs, more opportunity, and more prosperity right here in Pennsylvania,” the vice president said. “The USMCA is a big win for the Keystone State.”
Employee Travis Atherton didn’t need to be convinced.
“I’m glad he came,” Atherton said. “Pennsylvania needs to hear Trump and Pence. I want the USMCA to happen ASAP.”
Test operator Mike Kline has worked at the Shady Grove plant for 45 years and remembers the days it had 3,000 workers on the premises.
“We’re on our way back there definitely,” Kline said. “Donald Trump’s policies have motivated the industry and trade. It’s a good day for America.
“It’s a wonderful thing that Vice President Pence came here and can relate to an average blue-collar worker. He was right on. We’re glad he came. It was a good day for Manitowoc.”
Natasha Runshaw, who works in maintenance, also felt the support.
“I’m all for American work and American workers,” she said. “It was good to hear that someone is behind us.”
Dale and William Hammond are longtime Manitowoc employees and appreciated the visit as well.
“It’s time that people recognize the working force and not people sitting at home saying, ‘I don’t want to work,’” Dale said.
William added, “It makes us feel good that somebody thought of us. It means something.”