“Keep it Made in America” Bus Tour
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009The “Keep it Made in America” bus tour kicked off yesterday and may be headed to your state.
Several business associations in the U.S. collected their strength and put together an 11-state, 34-city, nationwide bus tour which began May 11 and ends May 14. The “Keep it Made in America” tour is sponsored by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Mayors & and Municipalities Automotive Coalition, and the United Steelworkers.
The central facet of the tour is to raise awareness as to the importance of spending American money on American goods. It has become blatantly obvious that the “free trade” world has hurt the U.S. economy. By spending money outside of our own economy, we lose money and gain nothing; by spending it here we multiply the money in the system and gain long-term stability.
The main focus of the tour is the need to save the American auto industry. Our government has granted several billion dollars in loans to automakers, but it has never really taken a stand to guarantee their survival like it did for American banks.
People gather to support the Auto Industry
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009By Nicole Serling | Connect Mid-Michigan
People across Michigan are gathering to support the auto industry.
Tuesday, the “Keep it Made in America” tour made its way around the state with stops in Saginaw, Bay City, and Lansing. They are trying to bring awareness to the country and legislators about how many people will be effected if the big three fail.
Some supporters say, “what people fail to realize is when a huge corporation goes down that built a city up or built a community up it trickles down that our schools are effected our small businesses are effected.” And, another supporter says, “we can’t have this industry fall by the wayside that we need the big three… The big three aren’t just big in detroit or michigan but across this country.”
According to the tour group 7.2 million jobs are effected by the auto industry. The group plans to make their way through eleven states and 34 cities.
Steelworkers stress losses
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Looking to raise awareness of job losses from carmakers and auto suppliers, the United Steelworkers’ 11-state bus tour visited Ford Motor workers in Louisville yesterday.
In all, the campaign deployed four buses, traveling from Michigan through Indiana, Ohio and states as far south as Texas. The tour was promoted in part by a telephone-message campaign in affected states.
Buses carry Steelworkers officials, as well as representatives from the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a lobbying group based in Washington, D.C.
The goal is to raise awareness of job losses among automakers and suppliers, said Kevin Baird, the group’s regional coordinator who was riding the bus traveling through Kentucky.
The alliance asserts “more than 7.2 million paychecks are dependent on U.S. autos, including health care, education, service, retail and other jobs.”
Ben Lilienfield of Baytown, TX
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Ben Lilienfield, 36, of Baytown, TX, is a married father of an eight year old boy. Lilienfield, who was the MC at the Little Rock, AR, “Keep it Made in America” rally, says that everything he does he is doing for his son’s future. 
A member of the United Steel Workers for 15 years, Lilienfield is currently the Rapid Response Coordinator for USW District 13. While his role is to help educate USW’s membership about upcoming legislation that would help steel workers and the auto industry, Ben also tries to mobilize the membership into actions such as letter writing campaigns and attending rallies.
But because of the dire economic conditions and the difficulty people are having trying to find a job, Ben says that it has been harder to find and retain activists.
People are no longer calling him up to say “Hey, what can I do to help?” or “What can I do to help keep jobs in America?” Instead, Ben is hearing over and over, “Do you know anything about jobs? Where can I find a job?”
Sponsored by Alliance for American Manufacturing, Mayors & Municipalities Automotive Coalition, United Steel Workers
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