Collapse of Auto Industry Directly Tied To Industrial/Trade Policy

http://www.laborradio.org/node/11241

By Doug Cunningham

United Steel Workers Vice President Tom Conway says the collapse of the U.S. auto industry is directly linked to decades of trade policies that shipped U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas to cheap labor markets while allowing a flood of imports into the U.S. market. Conway says workers have been ill-served by the philosophy of serving Wall Street and multi-national corporations in the name of globalization and free trade.

: “Two decades or so of this continual off-shoring and pandering to the Wall Street monied interests need to come to an end. It’s a system that’s broken.”

Conway says the fight to save manufacturing is underway, pitting monied interests against activist workers.

: “And money is the heart of the problem here i n so many ways, so we've gotta find a way to overcome that. And I think for us it is literally gonna be boots on the ground outvoting the money. And organizing and organizing one on one, face to face, growin' this thing."

For Conway, the United Steel Workers and for workers across America the real economic struggle is not to just restore profitability to the same old system, but to fundamentally change it to benefit workers.

They quickly undersold American companies with fuel efficient but unsafe small cars.

is less safe than a Chevette? I don't think so.

I'm willing to listen to rational arguments, but this isn't one of them.

factories overseas has played a pivotal role.

The American Automakers were told their salary scale had to
be made on par with Foreign Transplants. This was part of
the negotiations. Globalization requires that the salaries
be on more even playing field. High Salaries and Good Benefits
are to expensive for the rest of the world.

This is what happens in Free Market Capitalism. The Market
wields it way.

The Crisis we are experiencing right now is not just the Banking
and Mortgage Crisis.

Smarter people than me have said Globalization has not worked out
as intended. I say, that is because there was no oversight or
management of Trade Policy. Let Free Markets Roll.

Yes, Globalization has had a serious impact on Auto MFG.
I am not overlooking the fact the Auto Industry did not
manage their companies and envision what was coming.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/17/business/us-limits-increase-on-van-tariffs.html

U.S. Limits Increase on Van Tariffs
By CLYDE H. FARNSWORTH, Special to the New York Times
Published: Friday, February 17, 1989

The Treasury, revising a Customs Service ruling that touched off an outcry from foreign automobile makers early this year, ruled today that most imported vans and sport-utility vehicles would continue to be classified as cars, not trucks, thus avoiding an almost tenfold increase in their tariffs.

The decision was described as ''purely technical'' by Treasury officials, but it has major implications for trade policy.

It was a victory for foreign auto makers, particularly those from Japan, West Germany and Britain who had persuaded their Governments and lobbyists to intervene in the American rule-making process. A Previous Suspension

In response to the foreign pressure, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady on Jan. 12 suspended the initial Customs decision that had classified the imported vehicles as trucks, subjecting them to a 25 percent duty, instead of the 2.5 percent that imported automobiles pay.

But for domestic auto makers, today's decision was a defeat. They had counted on the extra tariff protection to aid their sales of these vehicles.