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CEOs, Union Leader Agree: Manufacturing Strategy Crucial |
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United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard will be part of the discussion on CNBC’s “Meeting of the Minds: Rebuilding America” today at 8 p.m. EST.
Defying the popular stereotype, CEOs and labor representatives sat on a panel and largely agreed on major issues confronting industry and working people.
It happened earlier this week as CNBC taped “Meeting of the Minds: Rebuilding America” at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh before nearly 600 students, businessmen, steelworkers and other trade unionists. Host Maria Bartiromo said the show, which airs today at 8 p.m., was filmed in the Steel City because
It was here that America’s soul was forged.
Bartiromo assured the audience that the panel of speakers—Dan DiMicco, president and CEO of Nucor Corp.; Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co.; Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric; John Engler, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers; and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis—and I would tell them how to put America back on track.
Since precious few Americans, even those in the same political party, agree on how to realign America, that’s when a typecast smackdown between CEOs and unionists might have begun. But it didn’t. That’s because on the most crucial issues, like manufacturing strategy and trade policy, the panel pretty much agreed.
Really.
For example, this is the United Steelworkers’ position on manufacturing strategy: America needs one. The lack of a strategy handicaps the United States when it attempts to compete with virtually every other industrialized nation in the world. They have policies. They’ve decided which manufacturing areas they’re going to emphasize and support. And they do that with taxes, tariffs, loans, grants and even higher education guidelines.
As I said that night:
We need to have a plan. All the other major countries in the world have plans. I am not mad at China. I am mad at us. They are doing what they need for their people.
Ford and DiMicco joined that position. Ford said, for example, that he met recently with the president of another country where his company manufacturers cars. That president, whom he did not name, asked, “How can I help you?” Ford said that country already had a manufacturing strategy, so he could have a conversation with that government. But, he said, today, in the United States, that same conversation “is almost impossible because there is no policy.”
DiMicco agreed. He stressed that a manufacturing agenda must be designed, and he believes that is now being done with the support of President Obama’s administration. He added:
We need to create jobs for 30 to 40 years, not the short term.
Here’s something else we agreed on: Trade laws must be enforced and improved. The failure to do so has led to huge U.S. trade deficits and the migration of millions of good, middle-class manufacturing jobs overseas.
Several USW officers went to Washington, D.C., the day after the CNBC show taping to testify before the U.S. International Trade Commission in an attempt to save the U.S. industry that makes specialized steel pipe. Between the end of 2008 and September 2009, this industry lost 2,421 workers because of a killer cascade of unfair Chinese imports.
The USW is joined in this petition by U.S. Steel Corp., Maverick Tube Corp., Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel, TMK IPSCO, V&M Star LLP, V&M TCA and Wheatland Tube Corp. Now there are a few more CEOs who agree with the USW.
During the CNBC taping, Immelt conceded that the policy of trying to put factories on barges to ship them overseas in search of the lowest labor costs, “has turned out to be not such a good idea.” For manufacturers like GE, and the U.S. workers who lost those jobs, America must enforce trade laws and create a manufacturing policy to establish the incentives essential to keep those factories at home in the United States.
I have been ranting about trade for a long time. Rarely have I heard someone as angry about it as I am. But DiMicco clearly is. Listen to what he told the CNBC audience:
You should be a lot ticked off about the failed trade policies in Washington, D.C….That has destroyed the middle class in this country.
A member of the audience asked Ford if shedding the UAW would enhance his bottom line.
He said no:
We are very happy with our union work force. There is a misconception that we want to get rid of the union.
He said Ford collaborates with its union workers. He noted that he is a fourth generation Ford and walks through plants greeting many fourth generation UAW workers who are committed to Ford’s success. “Together we have gotten a lot done,” he said.
Union leaders have no qualms about negotiating with CEOs like Bill Ford for a fair split of the profit-pie in collective bargaining. But first, working together, we must make sure that with a manufacturing strategy and strong, enforced trade laws that there is a pie.
2 Comments
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If these “Captains of Industry” are so aware of the real issues crippling manufacturing in this country, why aren’t they advocating for a national health care system on par with the rest of the developed world so that US companies aren’t saddled with the enormous costs of health insurance? We hear how $1500 of the cost of every car made in the US goes to pay health benefits for workers and retirees. Well, how about doing away with those costs by instituting the only system shown time and time again to cover everyone at a lower cost than all other options - single-payer!
When the scorpion stings you, don’t be mad at the scorpion. It’s merely doing what scorpions do. Be mad at yourself for trying to be friends with scorpions.
If America used a value-added tax (VAT) similar to those used in over 100 other countries, we would not be shifting so many jobs overseas in good times and bad.
World Trade Organization (WTO) rules allow countries that use VATs to fund such things as health care also to levy them on imports AND to refund them when products are exported.
Thus, because Korea uses a VAT, Hyundais come here tax free. That enables them to sell for less than our Chevrolets, which contain in their price tags all the taxes paid by GM (including the FICA payroll taxes GM pays into Social Security/Medicare every time it hires a worker).
When a tax laden Chevrolet goes to Korea, it gets slapped with Korea’s VAT. That’s the big reason there aren’t many Chevrolets sold in Korea.
If we replaced the FICA payroll tax with a VAT, we could begin to level the playing field for American workers. For example, if we replaced the employer’s share of the FICA with a 7.5% VAT, that Hyundai that left Korea costing $20,000 would be hit with a $1500 VAT when it hit California. This would significantly reduce the price advantages it now enjoys.
Another pro-worker feature of VATs is that they are paid whenever employers replace workers with outsourcing or automation, not just when workers are hired.
The reason why over 100 other countries use VATs is because they more pro-worker than payroll taxes like the FICA for Social Security/Medicare.
God Bless America!