VAN WERT – The nation is in the midst of a conversation about the future of U.S. auto companies. The men and women who make those cars want to make sure their voice is part of that discussion.
Members of the Alliance for American Manufacturing stopped by Van Wert’s United Steelworkers hall Wednesday as part of a cross-country bus tour to promote what they call their plan to drive America forward. The five-point plan includes steps to save America’s automakers as well as the 7.2 million jobs they support.
“This is about all of us sitting here in this room. This is about all the people living in these neighborhoods in Van Wert. It’s about their lives,” said Donnie Blatt, one of the tour’s organizers.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing was formed by manufacturers and the United Steelworkers to promote American industry. That promotion comes in the form of a lobby to use federal stimulus money to save American jobs, restore cooperative innovation and development among manufacturers, change health care policies, and promote fair trade.
That last element has prompted some to accuse the group of protectionism, said Dave Caldwell, director of United Steelworkers District 3 in Columbus.
“We’re not protectionists. We’ll compete with anyone, but we can’t compete when there are trade laws that make it impossible to do it,” Caldwell said.
The group is hoping the Obama administration will use stimulus money in a way that protects American jobs, the way other countries have protected theirs. In Italy, a $1.7 billion stimulus to automakers came with the requirement that plants remain open. French President Nicolas Sarkozy loaned $8.5 billion to French auto companies, saying it was not protectionism but part of his responsibility to keep jobs in France.
“We need the same attitude here,” said Billy Boyce, director of USW District 1. “It’s not enough for GM and Chrysler just to return to profitability, the cars need to be made here in the United States.”
