Chamber of Commerce Sides with Foreign Embassies Against Buy American ( or bye bye jobs)

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/06/16/chamber-of-commerce-sides-with-foreign-embassies-against-buy-american/

by Tula Connell, Jun 16, 2009

There they go again. Those running the show at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are attacking again the Buy American provision in the economic stimulus package.

Ignoring, once more, that Buy American makes fundamental economic sense by ensuring at least some of our taxpayer bailout money is invested in American-made productions, the Chamber is siding with foreign embassies battling the Buy American provisions. In a June 2 letter to lawmakers, Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs, asked Congress to exclude Buy American provisions from all legislation.



More recently, the Chamber held a joint press conference June 11 with the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters to decry the Buy American provisions in the stimulus. For a trade association with “U.S.” in its name, siding with foreign corporations against those in the United States is, well, you fill in the word that best describes it.

Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC), framed the Chamber’s action this way, according to the Daily Labor Report (subscription required):

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is effectively suggesting that America needs to buy more Canadian to dig out of our economic hole. That position doesn’t pass the U.S. economic interest laugh test.

The Chamber’s anti-Buy American stance, which undermines the interests of America’s workers, also isn’t amusing for the millions of jobless workers in this nation.

In fact, the Chamber’s false argument that Buy America provisions will start a “trade war” is a tired one. The stimulus requires that U.S. material be used in projects funded by the bill, but also states that the clause should not override U.S. international trade commitments.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative spokeswoman Deborah Mesloh said the Obama administration is committed to ensuring that the Buy America requirements in the stimulus legislation are applied in a manner that is consistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements.

FULL story at link.

secracy and alternative agendas

You may want to ask the 600 workers who may lose their jobs over this.

Media Fails to Probe Multi-National's Refusal to Buy American

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-conway/media-fails-to-probe-mult_b_214110.html

Swiss-Russian owned Duferco Farrell Corp. refuses to comply with the Buy American requirements in the $787 billion stimulus package.

One consequence of that decision is the Duferco rolling mill located in Farrell, Pa., north of Pittsburgh, lost a major customer -- Wheatland Tube Co., situated a few hundred yards down the street in Farrell.

Another is that Duferco, which opposes buying American, milked that loss for more tons of false publicity than an overloaded truck of steel coils at a weigh station.

Duferco Farrell made itself out to be a victim of Buy American, claiming the provision cost it a customer, and the Washington Post and New York Times swallowed that whale whole, without making any effort to dissect it.

Here's what really happened:

Wheatland Tube, a pipe maker, stopped buying rolled steel from its Farrell neighbor because Duferco gets steel slabs from Russia and has refused to buy from domestic producers.

Wheatland is sensitive to the issue of imports, having been burned by unfair competition from China. It is among the plaintiffs in trade cases alleging unfair competition. But, more immediately, Wheatland officials feel that under the Buy American provisions, its products must be produced with American-made steel, or they can't be bought with stimulus funds.

Bill Kerins, president of Wheatland, said he backs Buy American because it provides opportunities for American workers. It is, essentially, American tax dollars dedicated to providing jobs for American workers. And, polls show, a large majority of Americans support it. They oppose anyone spending their tax dollars to create jobs in foreign countries. He has said that more and more of Wheatland's customers are demanding that it meet the requirements of Buy American.

Kerins made it clear to the Sharon Herald, the local newspaper for the town of Farrell, that he's perfectly willing to buy rolled steel from Duferco again, if the company obtains slabs from domestic producers. Here's what he said: "We're prepared to do business with Duferco Farrell when they're able to be in compliance with the Buy American provision, and we hope they're able to work that out."

That would leave you with the sense that Duferco could work something out, right? Well, not if you read the Washington Post or the New York Times. Neither bothered to quote Kerins or the United Steelworkers. Both limited themselves to quoting Duferco - a one-sided story. They failed to adequately question. As a result, both provide a completely false impression.

snip

Wheatland has informed Duferco that it is willing to modify its specifications so that NLMK 8-inch slab produced in Indiana may be used.

Duferco's response: shipping slabs from NLMK facilities in Portage, Ind. to Farrell, Pa., a distance of 375 miles, is prohibitively expensive, as is the cost of shipping the 10-inch slabs from the Maryland or Alabama mills to Pennsylvania. So Duferco must continue sending steel the thousands of miles from NLMK facilities in Lipetsk, Russia to Farrell, Pa.

Really?

Somehow that doesn't smack of the truth. In fact, it sounds like Duferco is making every effort to avoid buying American, while its customers, its workers and even potential suppliers are all scrambling to help it buy American and re-employ its workforce.

What is really going on here is Duferco perverted this situation in an attempt to smear the Buy American provision. The Washington Post and the New York Times made no serious attempt to check out the multi-national's lame allegations.

Not much more could be expected from a Swiss-Russian-owned corporation. That multi-national has no allegiance to America. It just wants to use this country to generate profits. If Duferco can get its hands on American tax dollars to profit in Lipetsk, it will be all the happier. But for the Washington Post and the New York Times to support that is, really, un-American.