1976-12 December IBEW Journal.pdf - International Brotherhood of ...

depaltlnent
of Resealch and
OMY INDICATORS
Indic at or b tesl MDnth Ago Year Ago
en 7.8%
Uu",~I01 ",•• 1 I~
[Ie,triut
E_~Jp ••• 1 ( $e~I.mb.f.
(Oc tO!H r, ]976 )
"Hwlaf\..,I, 1916)
10.3'"
( lklo~ t'. Ig151
Edllcation
6.91;
lIu.,ltJ.ut .. 7.11% 9.1'
(Stp]"",btr, (OctOber. 1 97~
"'",',elo"., 'Oc tOOtr. 1~761
1 ~ 76 )
International
Trade and Jobs In the
United States
.0Il1" ,I
,..,. u. -778.9 + 908.2
Sopl mbt •. - 757.7 ,Se Ptemller.
hi 11"" ,I 1976) ( ~llu s t , 197!i) 1 97~1
o.n"$)
Sources. filS, U.S. Department of labUI
U.S. Oepartment of Commerce
• World traue i~ growing: ~o j~ the
U. S. Irad\: deli ... il. which, in September.
grew hy S77K.9-million. Specific
import it ems Ihal increased ill September
weTC iron and steel. ,ugar.
and aUIO imporl-. rrom nation~ other
Ihan Canada. The August ddio.:il wa~
S7:'i7.7-million. and the lotHl tmelc
defkit for the 1ir~t rhree 4l1arlcr~ of
197fl amounted 10 $3A-miltion. 'J his
me:ms th;1I the nation\ import~ have
exceeded cxport~ by $3.4-million ~o
far in 1976. Too often. thi.'> imbalance
of trade mean" that more Americans
ar~ losing their jobs to the citizens of
foreign count ri c.'> ill which multinational
corpor:tti()n~ have set up oversells
oper:ltion~ or cou illrie ~ which IIrc
eng:IJ;ed ill dumping their manufactured
goodl> on the U. S. market.
Color TV Ind uslr.\
Within the la~t several }ears, the
import of color tekvision ~cts has
in.:reased from 10 percent of the market
t~, 25 percent ("If the market. Color
TV impon~ for the lil.'>t .'>i\ months
of 1976 ro\~ 151 percent in unib and
150.3 percent in valuc over the ~ame
period of 1975. The primary source
of these color ,cts imported by thc
U. ~. is Japan. Sing;lpore ;lnd Taiwitn,
where wilges tor ,killed \\oorkeN range
from .lot cent.'> to S 1.3R P'u hour. arc
major recipient.'> of U. S. multination:ll
inve"tment5 in Ihc color tdeVi~ion indu.'>try.
Color televi~ion set~ importcd
from the~c coulltries arc clltting deeply
into jobs at pl:l11ts in America where
color TV lubes :Ind / or ,>.:ts have heen
or ;lfe being nlllllufaClltred. Man y of
the workers in the~e plants ;Ire IUI ~W
member~. The Ja panesc color TVmakers
arc predicting a further increase
in their exporl~. relying on the
U. S. market. the de~tination for m(lre
than h:1If of their expon~ in past years.
It is prohabk. 100, th~lt additional
Japanese televbion set~ and components
and other manuf"ctured good~.
such as computer units, will be dumped
on the U. S. market. bec. ple,l,ure
boat~. ~ h ocs. ctc.
It('tid Sought
The InEW. ;llong with the Industrial
Union Depallmcnt of the AFL·
C IO and seve ral othcr unions. pillS
several corp(lration~. has filed a complaint
with the U. S. Inlcrn;ttional
Trade Commi"ioll (lTC), under thc
"csc;lpe d;lu~e" pro\' i~ion (If the 1 rade
Aci of 11)74, \(l halt the ma,.,ive pellctration
of the U. S. market by foreign
manufnClura' of color t deVt~lOn set.'>.
The ha\ic pmpo.'>e of this action is to
';Lve johs.
Under the Trade Act. the Prc\iucnt
is aUlhorized to grant impClrt relief to
a U. S. indu~tr}. if the fTC determines
tlmt increa~o;>d impons o.;on,tilUte a
"~Ub.'>tall tiall·all,e·· or thre,lt of seriou"
injury \0 thm indu~try. If Ille Pre,id~'n"~
itction is not in line llith the
I rc recommendation, the ITC n::;':OJllmendation
may be implemented upon
adoption by Congfe~s of a co ncurrent
rc,oluliofl di~approvins the action of
thl' Pr('\ident.
Import relief may include increa'ed
dulies. tarilT rutc quota~ th :ll limit the
number of ;Irticlc.'> importo;>d into Iho:
country, negotiation of an orderly
marketing agr('l'mel11, trade adj\l"tmcnt
as\istance. or lilly combination of the
aforemo.;ntioned.
Role of i\llI itimu ion:lls
i\ lany U. S. corporation, L:Ullllihutc
to tho: ero~ion of job~ ill Americ:L hy
,citing up plant~ ill foreign countries.
therehy ho:coming multinational COfporatiolu.
These multinational.'> arc
frequentl y attfllcted 10 overseas 01'0.;1"