Fort Payne, Alabama: About 130 of Fort Payne’s remaining hosiery workers are losing their jobs. Gildan-Prewitt is closing its knitting equipment facility and moving rocessing operations to Honduras.
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Letter calls for appropriate remedies against illegally subsidized paper imports from China…
A bipartisan group of 109 U.S. Senators and Members of Congress representing 30 states have signed a letter to President Obama urging him to investigate subsidies provided by the Chinese government to its paper industry. The bipartisan letter, spearheaded by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), along with Reps. Michael Michaud (D-ME-2) and Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI-11), calls for the application of “all appropriate and necessary remedies” to combat unfairly subsidized paper from China, which puts hundreds of thousands of U.S. paper industry jobs at risk if left unchecked.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) commends these members for recognizing the threat of China’s unfair trade practices and immediately taking steps to fight for their constituents. A recent Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study found that the Chinese paper industry has benefited from at least $33 billion in subsidies from 2002-2009, with paper production in China tripling over the last 10 years.
Both labor and management agree that domestic paper jobs will remain in jeopardy because of illegal subsidies given to Chinese paper producers. From 2002 through the end of 2009, overall employment in the U.S. paper and paper products sector dropped 29 percent, from roughly 557,000 workers to 398,000. As AAM Executive Director Scott Paul explains, unless subsidized paper imports are properly addressed, more U.S. jobs will be lost.
“China’s massive subsidies to its paper sector are doing severe damage to the U.S. paper industry,” said Paul. “U.S. policymakers must take action against China’s blatant violations of trade laws, including sweeping subsidies to paper and many other industries. We thank the 109 Senators and Members of Congress who have sided with the American workers and signed the letter to President Obama.”
The United Steelworkers (USW), which represents roughly 130,000 U.S. paper industry workers, also praised the letter, with USW International President Leo W. Gerard saying, “We commend the action taken by this bi-partisan group of U.S. Senators and Congressional members demanding that China obey international trade laws. Too many jobs and too many companies are being destroyed because of how China subsidizes production and violates free trade principles in paper manufacturing as well as in other industries.”
A copy of the letter to President Obama is available here. A list of members that signed the letter, along with a breakdown of paper jobs by state and Congressional District, is available here.
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Greencastle, Pennsylvania: Jerr-Dan Corp., a maker of towing and recovery equipment, is closing its two Greencastle plants. 100 workers are expected to lose their jobs.
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As Russell Hubbard reports in the Birmingham News, a “loophole” in U.S. trade law is helping imported sleeping bags overtake domestic producers.
The Generalized System of Preferences, a program authorized by Congress in 2006, allows certain products from developing nations to be imported free of tariffs. Apparently sleeping bags don’t qualify as a textile or related product, and so companies in Bangladesh are sending tariff-free sleeping bags into the U.S.
The result: Exxel Outdoors, which says it operates the last U.S. factory producing mass-market sleeping bags, is losing market share. Orders are dropping and plans to hire new workers have fallen by the wayside.
Exxel has been manufacturing 2 million sleeping bags per year, and sales of those sleeping bags have been providing a good living for more than 10 years for about 65 workers in Winston County, Alabama, where unemployment has been hovering at about 15% recently.
Now, however, the future is in doubt.
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The website of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) details the “Make it in America” legislative initiative from House Democrats to increase American manufacturing and create new American jobs. As a recent AAM poll shows, the American public strongly supports a renewed focus on American manufacturing.
The website reports on current and pending Make it in America legislation.
“Make it in America” bills that have passed the House:
•U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act
•Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act
“Make it in America” bills that are scheduled to come to the House Floor:
•National Manufacturing Strategy Act
•Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act
•End the Trade Deficit Act
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued its review of the Chinese economy and found that the yuan is “substantially undervalued.” This adds yet one more voice to the international clamor for action to address China’s ongoing currency manipulation.
It should come as no surprise that the IMF sees China’s currency as undervalued. The EU, Japan, and WTO have previously lodged complaints about China’s currency peg. What really matters, though, is what Congress plans to do in response.
As House Democrats move forward on a “Make it in America” agenda, ManufactureThis hopes that legislation to address currency manipulation will be at the top of the list…
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Mansfield, Ohio: Designed Metal Products, a metal-stamping company, has closed operations after 44 years in business. Roughly 10 employees are losing their jobs, many of them being ”longtime employees with 15 to 20 years on the job.”
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Yet another international voice says China is manipulating its currency.
Everyone is picking up on the need to rebuild U.S. manufacturing.
Paul Krugman says deflation may be in our future…and permanently high unemployment, too.
Consumer confidence falls.
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The Boston Herald reports that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is taking heat for buying a $7 million New Zealand-built luxury yacht while U.S. shipbuilders are struggling through a recession.
The article by Jessica Fargen quotes a local shipmaker:
“Darn, that would have been a wonderful job for a Maine builder,” said Jane Wellehan, president of the trade group Maine Built Boats. “If someone comes to build a $7 million boat that would employ half the population of some towns for a year or two. Boat building is such a critical component of our coastal economy.”
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Hale Stewart at 538 Politics says the U.S. economy is ”currently experiencing its third ‘jobless recovery’”:
“…the US labor force is going through a structural alignment where the amount of labor inputs necessary to produce durable goods is decreasing, despite an increase in overall output. This has important long-term ramifications for the labor market.”
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