Labor Rips Bush for Steel Tariff Move

President George W. Bush's decision to  rescinding tariffs his administration launched in 2002 to prevent surging imports of cheap, subsidized steel from being dumped on the U.S. market was strongly criticized by labor leaders.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) last month ruled the tariffs violate international free trade agreements, and Japan and the European Union have threatened to impose trade sanctions against the United States if the tariffs were not lifted.

Bush’s decision is “a sorry betrayal of American steel workers and steel communities,” Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said. “In his rush to appease the Europeans and Japanese, Mr. Bush willfully ignored the fact that damage to the American steel industry and American steel communities continues to this day, even with the tariffs in place.”

Since 1998, 42 steel companies have filed for bankruptcy and more than 50,000 steelworkers have lost their jobs. During the crisis, 17 of these companies have liquidated, wiping out the health care benefits of more than 208,000 retirees.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, on Dec. 1, wrote a letter to Bush saying that bowing to international pressure would send a disturbing signal “the United States is unwilling to defend its domestic workers and industries besieged by heavily subsidized foreign competitors.”

Hundreds of Steelworkers and their supporters from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia rallied in Pittsburgh Dec. 2 at a Bush fundraiser, urging him to retain steel tariffs and not cave in to international demands.

“This president has to wake up before it’s too late,” Andrew Miklos, president of USWA Local 1557, told the crowd. “He can’t break a commitment to the American people and the American workers. It’s wrong. It’s a disgrace, and it’s a bad signal to the world.”



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