If the U.S. fails to adequately respond to China’s massive industrial overcapacity, American manufacturing may be facing its last stand. Don’t take our word for it: Listen to the factory workers on the front lines.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing released a new report on Friday calling for stronger policy measures to combat China’s massive, unchecked overcapacity — and we warned that failing to do so will result in a catastrophic loss of jobs and production in the United States.
But we know that sometimes, it isn’t enough to hear just from us. Sometimes, things are easier to understand when you hear from the people whose lives are most effected by what’s going on.
That’s why as part of the report, titled SHOCKWAVES: The Ripple Effect of China’s Industrial Overcapacity on American Manufacturing and Factory Workers, we also spoke with people who work in the steel, paper, tires, and other industries who have seen firsthand the devastation caused by surging imports. A few of them were included in the report, and we’ll be sharing even more stories on the blog in the coming weeks.
First up is Kameen Thompson, who chatted with our Jeff Bonior about how China’s overcapacity has impacted the Cleveland-Cliffs Conshohocken steel mill in Pennsylvania.
Kameen Thompson has worked at the Cleveland-Cliffs Conshohocken steel mill for 19 years making light gauge armor for military applications. He is the president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9462, was laid off in 2010-2011, and saw additional layoffs at his plant in 2018.
Thompson was working as a crane operator when he was laid off along with more than 100 other workers in 2010. “That layoff lasted almost two years, and at that time I didn’t know if I was going to get my job back or not,” Thompson said. “The orders were not coming in like they were in the previous months, so things just got really bleak and slow. It was very rough.”
Thompson still wonders how the Conshohocken mill could have layoffs and a decrease in permanent employees since the steel is being produced for the U.S. military.
“When you get a job here at this plant, you think you’ve got a lifetime job because our military and government will always be ahead of the game,” Thompson said. “But we had two layoffs in the last 15 years.
“You are making steel for national security, making steel for the U.S. government, and you are processing steel to make MRAPs, tanks, ships, subs, and all of a sudden you get a notice you are getting laid off. That just baffles me, and it is not right.”
Thompson feels President Biden did the right thing by increasing tariffs on steel imports, but he is uncomfortable with the review process.
“It shouldn’t be a fight or a review of tariffs,” he said. “I believe it always should be something that is triggered automatically. I don’t think it should be up to the president, it should be up to us as a country to make sure the overcapacity just doesn’t happen.”
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