Bloom in Line for Administration Manufacturing Post

by James Parks, Aug 21, 2009

The Obama administration likely will name Ron Bloom, who heads the White House’s auto task force, to help develop policies to revive the U.S. manufacturing industry, according to reports by Bloomberg News.

The administration wants to create a new position to enable the White House to craft a policy that coordinates trade, labor and tax issues. He would report to Lawrence Summers, the president’s top economic adviser.

Short-sighted U.S. economic policies that encouraged companies to move offshore have created a crisis in manufacturing. Since 2001, some 40,000 U.S. manufacturing plants have closed, resulting in the loss of millions of family-supporting jobs. From 2001 to 2007, some 2.3 million jobs were lost just to the huge U.S. trade deficit with China.

Bloom is uniquely qualified for the position. Before moving to his present post, he was an assistant to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard. As USW’s director of corporate research, he helped revive and restructure 50 companies in bankruptcy.

Hired by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney when he was president of SEIU, Bloom began his career negotiating union contracts for low-wage workers.

Bloom has an MBA from Harvard and experience as a vice president at the investment banking firm Lazard Freres & Co., as well as with his own firm, Keilin and Bloom. While at the USW, Bloom’s restructuring plans were recognized for preserving thousands of manufacturing jobs and health care benefits for workers and retirees.

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