{"id":135110,"date":"2025-09-05T17:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135110\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T17:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:09:07","slug":"sherwin-williams-workers-worldwide-are-losing-retirement-benefits-because-of-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135110\/","title":{"rendered":"Sherwin Williams workers worldwide are losing retirement benefits because of Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no mystery about who is responsible for Sherwin-Williams\u2019 surprising decision to suspend its employee 401k match starting October 1<\/a>, according to the Today in Ohio<\/a> podcast crew:<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump and a weak-kneed Congress.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland-based paint giant\u2019s announcement sent shockwaves through the local business community and provided podcast hosts with prime evidence for their argument that the current administration\u2019s economic policies are harming American workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe workers shouldn\u2019t be mad at the company. They should focus their ire on Donald Trump, Bernie Moreno and everybody else in Congress that is doing this to America,\u201d Chris Quinn said in Friday\u2019s episode. He said Trump\u2019s economic strategies have proven disastrous in the past and are heading in that direction now. \u201cYou don\u2019t do tariffs\u2026 It cripples jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherwin-Williams CEO Heidi Petz attributed the decision to multiple economic factors: high mortgage rates freezing housing demand, inflation slowing DIY spending, and tariffs increasing costs on raw materials from China. This trifecta \u2013 all the result of Trump policies — has created what Leila Atassi described as \u201ca perfect storm of fewer customers and higher costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the company has previously suspended 401k matches during the 2009 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the hosts positioned this latest move as a canary in the coal mine for broader economic troubles. They argued that the suspension reflects necessary belt-tightening by a responsible company faced with deteriorating economic conditions.<\/p>\n

The discussion highlighted the disconnect between political rhetoric and economic reality regarding tariffs. \u201cTrump sold this tariff strategy to his supporters as a way to bring manufacturing back and punish foreign competitors,\u201d Atassi said. \u201cBut in reality, it\u2019s doing the exact opposite of that. It is kneecapping U.S. Manufacturers who depend on global supply chains,\u201d explained Atassi. \u201cAnd Sherwin Williams is a perfect case study here.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes this situation particularly alarming, according to the podcast hosts, is that Sherwin-Williams isn\u2019t a struggling company but rather a stalwart of Cleveland\u2019s business community. Atassi emphasized the point: <\/p>\n

\u201cSherwin Williams is a blue chip Cleveland employer with steady profits and this global footprint. And if they\u2019re feeling this pain so acutely that they\u2019re cutting back on employee retirement benefits and things, imagine what that means for smaller manufacturers and family-owned suppliers who don\u2019t have a cushion like Sherwin Williams has. This is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hosts drew connections to other economic warning signs, including layoffs at an aluminum fabrication company mentioned in a recent op-ed. The owner reportedly stated that his Trump-supporting employees were the ones being harmed because of a candidate they voted for, a pattern the podcast hosts suggest is repeating across the country.<\/p>\n

Quinn rejected claims from some media outlets that current economic hardship is necessary medicine for an economy that was \u201cfalsely looking good,\u201d calling such narratives \u201ctotal nonsense.\u201d He noted the former President Joe Biden handed Trump a roaring economy, which Trump is steadily crippling. <\/p>\n

Listen to the discussion here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to full \u201cToday in Ohio\u201d episodes<\/a> where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with Editorial Board member Lisa Garvin, Impact Editor Leila Atassi and Content Director Laura Johnston.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no mystery about who is responsible for Sherwin-Williams\u2019 surprising decision to suspend its employee 401k match starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[26096,28,13468,147,530,71799],"class_list":{"0":"post-135110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-building","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-headquarters","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-personalfinance","13":"tag-tower"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}