The U.S.–Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS–FTA) turns 2 years old Saturday and imports from Korea continue to flood into the United States, costing workers their jobs. Exports to Korea have failed to live up to the promises made when the agreement passed Congress, says United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard. The agreement, he says: …
Is Korea FTA Job Loss, Deficit Growth a Harbinger of TPP? Read More »
At a time of year when many workers are taking family vacations, uranium workers at Honeywell’s plant in Metropolis, Ill. won’t have that option. On July 27, the company announced a vacation freeze. United Steelworkers Local 7-669, which represents workers at the plant, claims that the decision is just another salvo in a three-year-long battle by Honeywell to …
The 14-month-long strike at Palermo’s Pizza in Milwaukee produced a small slice of justice this week for the Mexican immigrant workers who have been fighting for higher wages, safer conditions and a union voice at the frozen-pizza maker. Last Tuesday, Palermo’s finally agreed to comply with a finding by the National Labor Relations Board and …
Pizza-Making Strikers Win Small Slice of Justice in Milwaukee Read More »
The United Steelworkers (USW), the Spanish worker cooperative Mondragon—the world’s largest worker cooperative—and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) this week unveiled what they describe as a “template that combines worker equity with a progressive collective bargaining process.” USW President Leo Gerard says that “to survive the boom and bust, bubble-driven economic cycles fueled by …
New Co-Op Model for Sustainable Main Street Jobs Read More »
United Steelworkers and Mexico’s Los Mineros union could develop a unification proposal as soon as this August In Mexico, few independent union exist that are not effectively controlled by the Mexican government. According to United Steelworkers International Affairs Director Ben Davis, fewer than 1 percent of Mexico’s unions are truly independent unions. As a result …
Not the wars. Not greenhouse gasses. Not even the deficit. The issue most important to Americans is jobs. Despite that, jobs failed to make an appearance in the State of the Union address. The talk was all about business. Business was doing better. Business needed taxpayers to help pay for research and innovation. Business will …
A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel’s ruling in favor of U.S. tariffs on passenger and light truck tires made in China shows “the rules of trade, when vigorously enforced, can be made to work for working people,” United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard said. In September 2009, President Obama became the first president to enforce U.S. …
How is it that America finds herself in the position of schoolyard patsy, woe-is-me victim of China’s illegal trade practices that are destroying U.S. renewable energy manufacturing and foreclosing an energy-independent future? Come on, America. Stand up for yourself. Tell China that America isn’t going to hand over its lunch money anymore; international trade law will be enforced now. That’s the demand the United Steelworkers union made this week when it filed suit detailing how China violates a wide variety of World Trade Organization obligations.
Two Chinese companies have agreed to manufacture in America, instead of in China, a significant portion of the wind turbines needed for a Texas wind farm. The deal is a result of white collar Chinese executives negotiating with blue collar union officers to create green collar jobs in the U.S. The agreement defies stereotypes about unions as constantly combative, excessively expensive and environmentally challenged. The United Steelworkers union, which struck the deal, has a track record of engaging with enlightened CEOs for mutual benefit. It has a long green history. And it has worked to return off-shored jobs to the U.S.
Shuttered U.S. factories and off-shored manufacturing are sapping American strength. Late in April, 58 percent of 1,000 likely voters told pollsters they believed America’s economy no longer led the world. They also said they supported enacting a national manufacturing policy to promote resurgence of domestic production — a return to the days of a robust Rosie the Riveter and a country that could secure its independence with dynamic manufacturing capability. Rosie said, “We Can Do It.” Americans believe we can still do it.
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
