When Congress enacted the federal recovery plan, many state and federal leaders demanded “Buy American” provisions to ensure that the recovery plan funds would be directed to job creation in communities devastated by layoffs, particularly in steel and other manufacturing sectors especially hard hit by the economic meltdown. While these provisions were fiercely resisted by multinational corporate interests (and watered down in the final federal bill), they are one key policy to help revive the U.S. manufacturing sector and reorient the economy away from the neo-liberal “free trade” policies that have undermined wage standards throughout the economy. The reality is that the U.S. manufacturing sector is in free fall, threatening a core engine of our economy and threatening to lower wages further for workers in our nation. And this is just part of a more general crisis, at home and globally, of falling wages undermining global demand and further weakening the overall economy. Buy American policies are a first step in promoting an alternative to the trade and deregulation policies that fueled the current economic crisis. Ultimately, we need policies that strengthen local tools for economic growth at home, combined with fair trade policies to raise wage standards abroad as well. Also, as corporate interests increasingly use trade agreements to restrict state authority to protect worker, consumer and environmental interests, states are increasingly reviewing those trade agreements in order to restore states’ ability to effectively respond to economic crises and protect the long term interests of working families. Instead of the casino economy of financial excess, rising economic inequality and stagnant wages, we need to restore an economy based on a vibrant manufacturing sector at home and a fair trade system globally that raises wage standards for all workers around the globe.
Representing American Airlines Maintenance Workers in Tulsa Oklahoma and Greater Southwest Texas.