NATIONAL EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION & WAKE UP CALL
Friday, May 15th, 2009NATIONAL EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION & WAKE UP CALL
FOR AMERICA’S AUTO AND AUTO PARTS SECTOR AND AMERICAN MANUFACTURING
Tuesday, May 19
9:00-1:00 pm
Room HVC 215 in the Capitol Visitors Center A Half-Day Event to Discuss the Impact of and Steps That Can Be Taken To Address the Crisis in America’s Auto Sector.
Co-sponsored by
the Alliance for American Manufacturing, United Steelworkers, and Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition.
Attending the event will be union leaders, Mayors, Suppliers, Auto Dealers, and Community Members.
Show Your Support by Signing In, Attending the Event And Picking Up Materials on Why The Auto Sector
Matters to All Americans and What Political Leaders Need to Do!
If you have any questions about the event please call (202) 393-3430.
To RSVP please send a response to: rsvp@aamfg.org
Labor and Business Leaders, Economists, National and Local Officials Call on Washington to “Keep It Made in America”
Thursday, May 14th, 2009For Immediate Release
Contact: Kathy Roeder, (202) 744-1037
or kathy@blueenginemedia.com
Connie Mabin, United Steelworkers
(724) 601-5282 or cmabin@usw.org
Teach-In Showcases National Economics and “Home Economics;” Stories from
11-State Bus Tour on the Future of 7.2 million Auto-Related Jobs in America
Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2009) – From May 11 to May 14, thousands of workers whose paychecks are tied to the U.S. auto industry joined bus tours through 11 states to showcase the ripple effect of economic devastation and lost jobs in industries ranging from steel and paper to shops on Main Street and public education. For highlights from the 11-state bus tour visit www.madeinamericatour.org.
On Tuesday, May 19, from 9:00 AM-1:15 PM in Room HVC 215 of the Capitol Visitors Center, national economists, labor and business leaders, Members of Congress, local elected officials and everyday workers will bring those stories to Washington and present principles for revitalizing the auto industry by supporting American jobs and communities. The first panel begins with MSNBC’s Ed Schultz moderating a discussion featuring Leo Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers, Wilbur Ross, Chairman & CEO of WL Ross & Company, and Dr. Susan Helper, Case Western Reserve University, Professor of Economics. Labor and business leaders as well as elected officials and workers will participate in additional panels examining the auto supply chain and the government’s response.
U.S. auto manufacturing impacts millions more workers than those on assembly lines. Millions of workers depend on auto manufacturing companies as customers – in 19 U.S. states auto supply manufacturing is either the top or among the top five industrial employers – and millions more depend on auto workers as customers in their stores and restaurants. Local governments depend on income tax and property tax from middle class families to pay for education, health and safety services. To learn more about how the auto manufacturing industry impacts local communities visit www.americanmanufacturing.org and www.usw.org.
Recognizing the consequences that U.S. auto manufacturing has on communities across America, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, United Steelworkers and Mayors and Municipalities Coalition are presenting Congress and the Administration with principles for revitalizing the auto and auto parts manufacturing sectors, and driving economic activity beyond the assembly line floor:
– Stimulate domestic demand for automobiles, such as an incentive program like cash-for-clunkers with a strong domestic content requirement and restoring credit for consumers and businesses.
- Only risk American tax dollars to support domestic jobs, investment, and innovation, and reject off-shoring as a path to profitability for GM and Chrysler.
- Restore cooperative innovation and research and development efforts. A National Automotive Research and Development Program, for example, could provide incentives for companies to create programs that lead to better, safer, and more fuel-efficient vehicles – built domestically.
- Change health care policy to eliminate structural problems for the domestic auto industry. The Big Three’s foreign competitors benefit from either national health care plans or through offering substandard benefits.
- Ensure trade policy promotes U.S. interests. The U.S. imports $41.5 billion in cars and light trucks from Japan and $7.5 billion for Korea, while we export only $534 million and $373 million respectively. We must address non-tariff barriers to trade in these markets, end
currency misalignment and aggressively enforce our trade laws to eliminate unfair trade practices.
Additional panel guests and speakers include: auto supply workers, auto dealers and workers from the bus tour as well as Tom Conway, United Steelworkers international vice-president; Scott Paul, Alliance for American Manufacturing executive director; Mayor Virg Bernero (Lansing, MI); City Manager Peter Auger (Auburn Hills, MI); Mayor Kevin Wixom (Hinkley, MI); Mayor Carty Finkbeiner (Toledo, OH); Mayor Marlene Anielski (Walkton Hills, OH); Major Charles Brunner (Bay City, MI); Mayor Katherine Procop (Twinsburg, OH).
Leo W. Gerard, USW international president said, “Traveling around the country last week, we heard from laid-off people in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who desperately want to go back to work making auto parts. They are angry that their tax dollars might be used to export jobs. In Granite City, Illinois, a fourth-generation restaurant owner agonized over the thought that he may not be able to hand down his diner to his baby girl because local plant closings have hurt his business. All over the country workers on and off the assembly line are counting on our leaders to recognize that there’s much more at stake than profits. Saving the auto industry is about 7.2 million people, their families and their communities. Our teach-in aims to bring this message to Washington – that this is America’s fight, and a strong domestic auto industry matters to all of us.”
STATEMENT BY AFL-CIO SECRETARY-TREASURER RICHARD TRUMKA TO THE KEEP IT MADE IN AMERICA BUS TOUR
Monday, May 11th, 2009On behalf of the 11 million members of the AFL-CIO throughout America who build our homes, teach our kids, fight our fires, and nurse us back to health, I have a message for every worker and auto dealer-every community leader and elected official-who’s riding on the Keep It Made in America bus tour: You’re not alone. The American union movement is on the bus with you. We-like you-are determined to save the 7 million jobs and the thousands of communities that depend on a strong, vibrant auto industry and its supply chain. We believe in what you’re fighting for. We respect and applaud you for leading this fight.
The bus tour that you’re bringing to 11 states and more than 30 cities means a lot to each of us. We know very well that it’s about the workers who build our cars. But it’s also about the workers who make auto parts and conveyor belts and auto catalogs. It’s about the miners of iron ore that go into steel-the bank workers who write auto loans-the teachers and police officers whose salaries depend on a solid, strong tax base.
A few days ago, President Obama said, “If you are considering buying a car, I hope it will be an American car.” He’s exactly right. But as he knows and as we know, if we’re going to restore our domestic auto industry and its supply chain to where they should be, we need to stimulate demand for cars made in the USA. We need to restore the flow of credit to consumers and auto suppliers. We need to overhaul health care and relieve this industry and its workers of a burden that they cannot bear any longer.
I hope and pray this will happen. But hoping and praying won’t be enough. I promise you here and now that we’ll spread the word, we’ll take a stand, we’ll lobby our legislators, we’ll speak out, and we’ll turn the economy around until the day comes when America’s auto industry and its supply chain are once again as prosperous and once again as great as America deserves.
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“Keep It Made in America” Bus Tours Hit the Road in 11 States
Friday, May 8th, 2009Contact: Steven Capozzola
202-393-3430 x5
scapozzola@aamfg.org
Community leaders, workers join ranks to spotlight 7.2 million U.S. auto-related jobs across America
Washington, D.C. (May 7, 2009) – More than 7.2 million paychecks are dependent on U.S. autos, including health care, education, service, retail and other jobs. That’s the message workers, community leaders, elected officials, labor leaders, and others will bring to an 11-state, 34-city “Keep it Made in America” bus tour the week of May 11. Regular tour updates will be posted at www.madeinamericatour.org.
Leo W. Gerard, USW international president, says, “This jobs crisis goes deeper than auto companies and assembly workers in Detroit. Reducing U.S. auto manufacturing drives down overall employment, from the people who make auto catalogs and shipping boxes to workers making glass for windshields, rubber for tires and other materials.”
Workers from the bus tour, business leaders, national labor leaders, mayors, federal lawmakers and economists will join ranks again on May 19th at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for a day-long ‘teach-in’ conference on the impact of the automotive supply chain in communities.
Bus tour participants will include workers from steel, iron, glass, plastics and rubber, aluminum and auto parts facilities, local auto dealers, community employers, and local community and elected leaders. The tour is sponsored by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), the Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC), and the United Steelworkers (USW).
Organizers cite President Obama’s comments at his April 30 press conference on his first 100 days as saying: “If you are considering buying a car, I hope it will be an American car.” The “Keep it Made in America” tour supports the President’s call that recognizes the millions of jobs tied to the fate of the U.S. auto industry.
Auto parts suppliers drive economic growth in states all over the country. Auto parts suppliers are either the top industrial employer, or among the top five industrial employers, in 19 U.S. states. Among the states on the “Keep it Made in America” tour, auto parts suppliers are the top industrial employer in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. Auto parts suppliers are among the top five industrial employers in Illinois, Arkansas and Alabama.
The USW president says, “Nationwide, if we cut American auto jobs to support auto imports, the consequences for service sector jobs will be severe. The waitress at the neighborhood diner, the teacher at the community school, accountants, bankers, firefighters, and police officers will all likely see their jobs affected. We need to send a message to Congress and the Obama Administration that Americans recognize we must make things here. We don’t need more off-shoring. We need jobs – we need to rebuild domestic manufacturing and our auto industry.”
“You’ll notice that Shreveport is nowhere near Detroit, but making quality American vehicles and making parts for those vehicles has created terrific business opportunities in our community for other manufacturers, auto dealers, advertisers, radio and TV stations, and dozens of other local companies,” said Cedric B. Glover, Mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana. “These are the companies that form the tax base to pay for local services like schools, police, and fire departments, and they sponsor kids’ programs and contribute to local charities. Our quality of life has benefitted from opportunities afforded by the U.S. auto industry.”
“We all have a stake in a strong domestic automobile industry. That’s why we will put forward a plan to strengthen the automotive supply chain and get America back to work,” said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a labor-management partnership.
May 11-May 14 Bus Tour Routes
For more details in bus tour stops: www.americanmanufacturing.org. A website with stories from the tour and conference, www.madeinamericatour.org, will premier on May 11.
St. Louis, MO to Arlington, TX (May 11-14) – St. Louis, MO, Cape Girardeau, MO, Humboldt, TN, Memphis, TN, Little Rock, AR, Texarkana, AR, Shreveport, LA, Longview, TX, Arlington, TX
Indianapolis, IN to Fairfield, AL (May 12-14) – Indianapolis, IN, Louisville, KY, Owensboro, KY, Bowling Green, KY, Springfield, TN, Nashville, TN, Spring Hill, TN, Decatur, AL, Fairfield, AL
Merrillville, IN to Dayton, OH (May 11-13) – Merrillville, IN, South Bend, IN, Logansport, IN, Kokomo, IN, Ft. Wayne, IN, Bowling Green, OH, Van Wert, OH, Dayton, OH
Dearborn, MI to Bay City, MI (May 11-12) – Dearborn, MI, Hamtramck, MI, Sterling Heights, MI, Pontiac, MI, Wyoming, MI, Lansing, MI, Saginaw, MI, Bay City, MI
To find out specific job loss numbers visit our website.
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State Auto Jobs Data Sources: Level Field Institute; The Center for Automotive Research, 2007 Report; National Automobile Dealers Association, 2005 NADA Data, 2004 employment; Auto Assemblers’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, which includes state-by-state data; Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, State and County Employment (NAICS Code 3361 Motor Vehicle Manufacturing), 2004 employment.
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The Alliance for American Manufacturing is a unique non-partisan, non-profit partnership forged to strengthen manufacturing in the U.S. AAM brings together a select group of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers to promote creative policy solutions on priorities such as international trade, energy security, health care, retirement security, currency manipulation, and other issues of mutual concern. For more information: www.americanmanufacturing.org.
Sponsored by Alliance for American Manufacturing, Mayors & Municipalities Automotive Coalition, United Steel Workers
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