USW Endorses U.S. Producers' Call for Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Corrosion Resistant Steel

PITTSBURGH, June 3, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the union fully supports antidumping and countervailing duty petitions filed concurrently with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) by six U.S. steelmakers.

The petitions detail how a flood of subsidized and unfairly traded corrosion-resistant steel imports from China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan has damaged the domestic industry by undercutting the prices of U.S. producers over the past three years.

USW International President Leo W. Gerard called on the Commerce Department and USITC to act swiftly and decisively in defense of American workers whose jobs are unfairly threatened as a result of the illegal tactics employed by our trade partners.

"By any metric, USW members are the most productive and efficient steelmaking workforce on the planet," Gerard said. "We cannot allow these family supporting, community sustaining jobs to disappear because our competitors continue unfairly dumping their subsidized products on our shores."

The USW represents some 35,000 workers who produce corrosion-resistant steel at facilities owned by U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal and AK Steel, which are among the petitioners seeking relief.

Impacted U.S. Steel facilities include operations in Clairton, Pa., Fairfield Ala., and Gary Ind. ArcelorMittal production includes operations in Cleveland, Ohio, East Chicago, Ind., and Weirton, W. Va., while affected AK Steel plants include operations in Ashland, Ky. and Mansfield, Ohio.

Global overcapacity in steel and continued abuse of the system by foreign companies and their governments requires a major overhaul of U.S. trade policy and enforcement said USW International Vice President and Basic Steel Industry Conference Secretary Tom Conway.

"For decades, American workers have paid the price of failed trade policies and inconsistent enforcement of flawed trade agreements," Conway said. "Congress and the administration need to take responsibility for changing the system that has cost more than a million manufacturing jobs and shuttered thousands of factories, mainly in industries that employ USW members."

The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public sectors.  For more information: http://www.usw.org/.

More information, contact: Holly Hart at 202-778-4384, [email protected]
Tony Montana at 412-562-2592, [email protected]

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SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

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