USW Says Building New Bridge With Domestic Steel Is A Victory For Both U.S. & Canadian Workers

(PITTSBURGH) - The United Steelworkers (USW) is praising the announcement made by the United States and Canada involving a deal to build a new bridge between the Canadian City of Windsor, Ontario and the American City of Detroit, Michigan – which serves as the busiest Border Crossing between the two Countries.  

The deal, USW Representatives say, guarantees that Steel made solely in the United States and Canada will be used in the construction of the new bridge.

“It’s gratifying that this bridge will be built using Steel and other materials made right here at home, creating jobs for Canadian and American Workers,” USW International President Leo Gerard said. “Unlike the San Francisco Bay Bridge Project, where faulty construction, delays and cost-overruns proved the foolishness of hiring a Chinese Firm to build steel decking and a 52-story support tower and shipping them sixty-five-hundred miles to China - we can be proud of how this bridge will be built.”

“This deal is a great victory for Workers in both the United States and Canada.  Our hard work has paid off,” said USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann, who lobbied Canadian Minister of Transport Denis Lebel and stressed the importance of sourcing Steel for the project in the United States and Canada, while Gerard had similar conversations with the Obama Administration and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The deal for the $4-billion Project includes sourcing rules for Construction Materials for the Bridge itself and the approaches and Customs Plaza on the United States side of the Bridge. Details on any sourcing rules for the Canadian Customs Plaza and approaches have not been clarified.

“Now that there’s a deal to build the bridge, we call on Prime Minister Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to clearly say the Canadian-side infrastructure will be built with Canadian jobs and materials,” Neumann said.

Canada is agreeing to put up $550 million for Michigan’s costs for the road approaching the crossing.  In exchange, Canada will collect Michigan’s Bridge Tolls until the funds are recouped.

The USW represents about 850,000 Working Men and Women in Canada and the United States in a wide variety of Industries, ranging from Glass Making to Mining, Paper, Steel, Tire and Rubber and other Manufacturing Environments, to the Public Sector, Service and Health Care Industries.

USW Praises WTO Ruling On China/Union Officials Say Obama Administration Shows It Will Not Permit China To Threaten American  Jobs By Using Anti-Dumping And Countervailing Duty Proceedings To Harm U.S. Exports

(PITTSBURGH) - The United Steelworkers (USW) Union is lauding the Obama Administration’s resolve, as it is praising a ruling made by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a case that involved the United States protesting China’s imposition of duties on imports of American-made, Grain-Oriented, Flat-Rolled Electrical Steel (GOES).

The Administration petitioned the WTO in September 2010, asking the Trade Organization to resolve the imposition of Chinese Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties on U.S.-made GOES, a product that is widely used in the Electrical Generation and Production Industries.

“By unfairly restricting imports of American Steel, China has for too long attempted to tilt the playing field for the Global Steel Trade in their direction,” USW International President Leo Gerard said. “In filing this case, the Obama Administration showed that it will stand strong for American Workers, and by ruling in our favor, the WTO has taken an important step toward leveling the playing field for our Workers who make products for export.”

Several American Facilities, including AK Steel Plants in Butler, Pennsylvania and Zanesville, Ohio, as well as and Allegheny Technologies sties in Brackenridge and Bagdad, Pennsylvania, are leaders in the production of GOES.

 “When we play by the same rules, American Steelmakers and Steelworkers can compete with the best in the world,” USW International Vice President Tom Conway said. “This ruling is a victory for both American Companies and American Workers.”