Summer Union CampLeah Kinney, center, daughter of USW memberKen Kinney of Fulton, Mo., spent a weekthis summer learning about the labor movementat a union camp for teens in Poplar Bluff, Mo.Lesly Hall, left, president of USW Local 713 inNew London, Mo., and a Woman of Steel activist,is one of the adult leaders at the Romeo Corbeil-Giles Beauregard Summer Union Camp. Alsoshown are Sam White of the American Federationof Teachers and University of Missouri (MU)labor educator Paul Rainsberger.The camp been in operation for 14 yearsand is sponsored by the OPEIU, the MU LaborEducation Department and the Missouri AFL-CIO.Photo by Jamaal CraigReinstate TAA FundingThe USW is urging Congress to reinstatefunding for the enhanced TradeAdjustment Assistance (TAA) programthat helps retrain workers who have lost jobsbecause of trade agreements.Services were slashed in February whenRepublicans in the U.S. House of Representativesvoted to block a bill that would extendthe program begun in 2009.Up to 170,000 Americans could be affected,from laid-off steelworkers who lostwork to China to office workers whose jobswere outsourced to India.The Department of Labor will retain theprogram with reduced funding for one moreyear. If Congress does not reinstate funding,tax-paying workers will lose a program thathelps American workers be competitive in aglobal economy.Convention PhotoThe panoramic 2011 Convention photographis available for purchase from thephotographer. Cost of the unmountedcolor photo, which measures approximately 10 x50 inches, is $75 plus $7.50 shippingand handling. Orders can be madeby mail, phone or Internet. Visa,MasterCard and checks accepted.Back to School with USW Help<strong>Steelworkers</strong> this year provided school supplies tonearly 800 elementary students from Aliquippa, aformer steel town in western Pennsylvania.Volunteers from the USW Civil and Human RightsDepartment distributed donated items, from pencilsto book bags, to students from kindergarten throughsixth grade. The event, now in its fourth year, is muchanticipated by students and teachers alike.Shown distributing school supplies are (standing)USW Civil and Human Rights Director AmandaGreen Hawkins and Dwan Walker, the mayor-elect ofAliquippa.Tracking Work Hours Made EasyAtimesheet to help workers independentlytrack their hours and the wages they areowed is now available from the U.S.Department of Labor as an application for smartphones.Users can track regular work hours, break timeand any overtime hours for one or more employers.Glossary, contact information and materials aboutwage laws are accessible through links to the Webpages of the department’s Wage and Hour Division.For workers without a smartphone, the Wageand Hour Division has a printable work hours calendarin English and Spanish to track rate of pay,work start and stop times, and arrival and departuretimes.Both the app and the calendar can be downloadedfrom the Wage and Hour Division’s homeWeb page at http://www.dol.gov/whd.To order, contact:Hank deLespinasse Studios Inc.P.O. Box 93261Las Vegas, NV 89193Or phone: 702-361-4872The website address is: www.callmehank.com44 USW@Work • Fall 2011
No Vote on Trade Pacts UrgedThe USW has mailed a letter to every memberof Congress urging they vigorouslyoppose free trade agreements with SouthKorea, Panama and Colombia.The letter said the proposed trade dealswould “undermine our economic recovery, furtherdecimate American manufacturing and jobsand deepen the economic insecurity.”The detailed, five-page letter signed byInternational President Leo W. Gerard outlinedthe flaws for American workers in each of theproposed FTAs. It also cites trade deals thathave caused the <strong>United</strong> States to lose 6 millionmanufacturing jobs in the last decade.“Promises made by administrations past andpresent touting the benefits of free trade havesimply not materialized for America’s manufacturingworkers,” Gerard said.Photo by Buril Smith, Local 9231Local Donates to Japanese ReliefUSW Local 9231 and 9231-01 members inNew Carlisle, Ind., observed a momentof silence for workers at sister locationsin Japan that were devastated by natural disastersthis year.The local represents workers at I/N Tek andI/N Kote, joint ventures between Nippon SteelCorp. (NSC) and ArcelorMittal, formerly InlandSteel.The local’s Women of Steel committee raised$10,000 in relief aid to assist steelworkers at Nippon’sKamaishi Works, which was hit hard by anearthquake and tsunami that killed thousands ofpeople and left many homeless.Most of the money was raised through rafflesand a bake sale held on Safety Day/Workers’ MemorialDay in April, and is being used in Japan toprovide transportation for displaced workers andtheir families.Local President Todd Kegley (standing right)said the local has a longstanding good relationshipwith NSC and the Japan <strong>Steelworkers</strong> Union.Tariffs Continue on Stainless Importsfrom Japan, Korea and TaiwanAfter a sunset review, the <strong>United</strong> States is continuing tariffs on certainstainless steel products from Japan, Korea and Taiwan and eliminatingthem on stainless products from Germany, Italy and Mexico.The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled this summer thatrevoking existing countervailing duty orders on stainless steel sheet and stripfrom Korea and existing antidumping orders on stainless products from Japan,Korea and Taiwan would likely injure the domestic industry.The ITC also determined that revoking antidumping orders on importsof these products from Germany, Italy and Mexico would not likely lead torecurrence of injury to the U.S. industry.Countervailing duties are intended to offset the effect of subsidies grantedby an exporting country to its exporters and bring the price of the importedproduct up to market price. Antidumping duties are assessed on importedgoods that are sold at less than fair value.Under current law, antidumping or countervailing duty orders must be revokedafter five years unless the government determines that doing so wouldlikely to lead to recurrence of injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.International Vice President Tom Conway, who chairs the negotiatingcommittee with the stainless producers, said the union and industry weredisappointed in the revocations and would review the written decisions ofindividual ITC commissioners to determine whether to appeal.The USW represents more than 1,000 workers who produce stainless sheetand strip at Allegheny Ludlum facilities in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Connecticut,Massachusetts and Ohio, plus workers at AK Steel’s Mansfield Works inOhio.Boston Taxi Drivers Call for ReformsRepresentatives of the <strong>United</strong> <strong>Steelworkers</strong>/Boston Taxi Drivers <strong>Association</strong>on Aug. 11 appeared before Boston City Council’s Committeeon Public Safety to support establishment of a civilian commission tocreate and modify regulations for cabs.A civilian commission would give a voice to the drivers, owners and thepublic served by city cabs, said Donna Blythe-Shaw, a USW staff representativefor the association. All licensed cab drivers in the city of Boston areeligible to join.Unions Call for Aid InvestigationInternational President Leo W. Gerard and Larry Cohen, president of theCommunications Workers of America, have called for an investigationinto the alleged misuse of U.S. government aid in Colombia.The labor leaders asked the House Select Intelligence Committee toinvestigate press reports that the government of Colombia may have misusedU.S. government aid to investigate and undermine the activities of laborleaders and union activists in that South American country.Gerard noted that Congress is being asked to consider a trade agreementthis fall with Colombia, which has the worst record of any country in theworld with regard to violence against union leaders and activists.BlueGreen, Apollo Alliance MergeThe USW-supported BlueGreen Alliance and the Apollo Alliance havejoined forces to strengthen and unify the movement to build a cleanenergy economy and create good jobs in the <strong>United</strong> States.The merged organization will operate as the BlueGreen Alliance, a nationalpartnership of labor unions and environmental organizations launchedin 2006 by the USW and the Sierra Club.International President Leo W. Gerard, who has ties to both organizations,said the merged group will focus on creating good jobs that protect theenvironment. Both groups have labor unions and environmental organizationsas members.USW@Work • Fall 2011 45
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