(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – United Steelworkers (USW) Local Union 135L President Thomas O'Shei from Buffalo, New York testified today (Tuesday, May 9th) on behalf of his Union at the Congressional Committee on Ways and Means Field Hearing on Trade in America: Securing Supply Chains and Protecting the American Worker.

The following is O’Shei’s testimony:

Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Neal, thank you for the opportunity to testify today and United Steelworkers’ International President, Thomas Conway, sends his regards.

My name is Tom O’Shei and I am the President of United Steelworkers Local 135L, which represents Workers at the Sumitomo Tire Plant in Buffalo, New York.

Our plant employs over 1,400 Workers, including 1,100 Members of the USW.

I was hired at the plant in 1990, and for most of the last 33 years, I have been building tires.

My facility builds for the replacement and OEM market a wide range of tires from passenger vehicle, light truck (PVLT) tires to motorcycle, truck and bus tires.

We also export tires to Europe.

Since 2021 our facility has been in the process of updating and upgrading.

We are looking to add tire capacity that will allow our location to build up to 17,500 tires per day.

I can sit before you today talking about plant expansion, and tell you that I recently posted on my Facebook Page about job openings at the plant that start at $25.33 an hour with benefits, not just because of our Union’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, but also because the USW fought against illegally dumped and subsidized imports from a host of countries.

For the last 14 years, the Union has used every tool available to defend a domestic industry, which has manufacturing facilities in 19 states and employs nearly 100,000 Workers.

Since the USW has significant density in the Tire Industry we are able to file multiple trade cases without employers.

Since many Tire Manufacturers in the U.S. are Global Manufacturers, there has been hesitancy in filing trade cases because of potential retaliation.

But for the Union, this is about our jobs and attaining a level playing field.

The Union filed the only successful 421 petition against China in 2009 that lasted until 2012 on PVLT Tires.

Then in 2014, the Union filed an anti-dumping and countervailing duty case because when the 421-relief expired, Chinese producers flooded the U.S. market with imports going from about 24 million units to more than 50 million. 

The reason for the gap between 2012 and our trade case filing in 2014 is because our Trade Laws require a showing of three years of harm before we can win at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

We won that PVLT tire case in 2015, which continues today.

In 2017, the Union won duties against bus and truck tires from China.

My Union Brothers and Sisters joined Titan tire in winning a trade case against imports of Off the Road (OTR) Tires that started all the way back in 2008.

The Union, in 2021, also won what we call a “follow on case” against four countries on PVLT tires.

All told, there are now 12 cases that have led to duties on six different countries.

Millions of dollars and thousands of hours have been spent defending American Workers because we believe in fair trade.

However, Congress could do more to ensure a level playing field.

First, after 12 trade cases won against six countries, what more evidence does Congress need to see that tire products are an import sensitive commodity?

Congress should add tires to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Import Sensitive List.

We should not unilaterally drop tariffs on tires when, for example, a Chinese Tire Company invested nearly a billion dollars into a GSP country, which could then come in tariff free.

We need to make it easier to address third country subsidies, like China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and we need to recognize that global companies can quickly shift dumping from one country to another, undermining U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Congress should take up and pass Bills like the Level the Playing Field Act 2.0 introduced last Congress by Representatives Terri Sewell and Bill Johnson.

Second, Workers negatively impacted by trade should have access to training programs like Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which provides up to two years of job retraining benefits.

The last Congress appropriated nearly half a billion dollars in job training benefits for the program, and this Committee should quickly reauthorize the program to show Workers that they are willing to help them retrain when trade negatively impacts American jobs.

Additionally, the following items would aid Domestic Workers in competing in a globally connected world and ensure fair and responsible trade:

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