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Weirton, West Virginia--Mark Glyptis, President of the Independent Steelworkers Union and the Union Executive Committee today issued the following response to the "Report to the President - Global Steel Trade" published yesterday by the U.S. Commerce Department. "The authors of the "Global Steel Trade" report should be congratulated on their ability to weave a story that is not only full of statistical information, it actually makes the Clinton-Gore Administration appear sympathetic to the domestic steel industry and its workers. This report is proclaimed to be a part of the White House Steel Action Plan announced in August, 1999, should actually titled the Clinton Administration's plan to sell out the domestic steel industry. While we respect and support our union brothers and sisters who have endorsed this report and note our Congressional delegations from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania have been our true friends in Washington, D.C., we believe this report is nothing but a transparent attempt to gain favor with organized labor in general and union steelworkers in particular for the Al Gore's presidential campaign. While we note with reluctant pride the report does mention the workers and people of the Weirton community and our massive bus trip and rally in Washington, D.C., last year, it is also ironic to note not one member of the Clinton Administration even acknowledged our presence in the capital until Ohio Congressman Bob Ney embarrassed the White House into sending a lone representative to meet at the White House gates. This report is well-documented as far as the history of steel companies and their problems in Russia, Korea, Japan, and Brazil. And, we can also understand the Asian economic crisis and subsequent crisis in Brazil's financial markets. But what we cannot understand and never endorse is the Clinton's Administration's deliberate reluctance for the past two years in dealing with the steel crisis in this country. If you were to believe this document, it would appear the Clinton Administration has worked long and hard in stopping illegal foreign steel imports. That is a fairy tale that is even hard for our children to believe. The same Clinton-Gore team who campaigned in Weirton, West Virginia eight years ago to tour our mill and to promise our union workers they would enforce existing fair trade laws is now busy spinning a tale of more studies, more meetings, and more rhetoric. It is interesting to note the Commerce Department report states over and over the Administration must maintain strong U.S. trade laws consistent with the World Trade Organization. If we are forced to deal under the rules and regulations of the WTO, our trade suits could be tied up for years. We also find it pathetic the Clinton Administration is prepared to set up Rapid Response teams to help communities and workers adversely affected by illegal steel dumping. Hey Mr. President, how about stopping the illegal steel imports and we won't need your Rapid Response sympathy teams. The other theme that runs throughout the 240 page report is the fact China looms ever larger on the edge of the global steel stage. The Clinton Administration and its Commerce Department report would have us believe the Chinese steelmakers pose no threat to our domestic industry. Yet the report recognizes the Big Four Steel Companies in China enjoy a massive and low cost labor force. We believe the Clinton Administration once again failed to produce any substantial answers to the two year old steel import crisis. Rather, this administration has once again performed in the manner we have come to expect doing the last eight years .... rhetoric, promises, more rhetoric and more promises. If only the rhetoric and promises could be turned into dollars, than we would all be rich in Weirton, West Virginia. Yes, we will join our union brothers and sisters and our Congressional friends in continuing to lobby and demand the enforcement of fair trade laws. But we have grown so tired of demanding the simple enforcement of existing trade laws. "The time for empty rhetoric is past." |
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