Fighting for Fair Trade for Paper Workers - Thursday, August 05, 2010

USW RAPID RESPONSE INFO ALERT

Fighting for Fair Trade for Paper Workers

Early last month, Rapid Response reported on the roughly 200,000 paper industry jobs lost in the last decade – a third of the total jobs – and the uncertain future for all the Steelworkers in this sector. Since that time, we’ve been busy working in targeted ways to raise this issue with our lawmakers:

Rapid Response activists joined in an effort to secure over 100 signatures on a letter to the President that asks for action on the illegal subsidies China is giving to its domestic paper industries. These subsidies are a big part of why we’re seeing such devastation in U.S. paper jobs.

Activists also delivered the paper report that details these practices to multiple lawmakers at their local offices across the country, with more to come.

Our efforts will now move to a specific pending trade case that holds promise for many paper sector workers and is part of our union’s larger efforts to beat back unfair trade practices around the globe – and particularly in China.
Coated Paper Trade Case

If you have ever picked up a glossy brochure from a car dealership, then you’re familiar with what is known as coated paper. Steelworkers who produce this type of paper have been under attack from a flood of subsidized imports from Indonesia and China in recent years, resulting in far too many idled and closed plants.

This paper product – and the jobs that remain – are at the center of a pending trade case filed by our union and three domestic companies. The case argues that we must enforce trade rules against the flood of subsidized imports. The U.S. Interational Trade Commission started their investigation into the case last fall, and final rulings are expected sometime this fall. Many Steelworker jobs are at risk.

Get Ready! Later this week, Rapid Response will be kicking off another targeted action that focuses on the coated paper case.

Please be ready to act!

Printer friendly version

Registration System

Find Us On:

Fighting for Fair Trade for Paper Workers - Thursday, August 05, 2010