Jobs

Manufacturing jobs, which have built and sustained America’s middle class are disappearing at a record rate. The United States has lost 2.7 million manufacturing jobs since President George W. Bush took office in 2001. Unless Congress acts to reform policies that have caused our manufacturing crisis, we’ll lose more good jobs and more American infrastructure.

The Sheet Metal Workers support fair trade, not so-called “free trade.” Due to faulty international trade programs like NAFTA large multinationals are succeeding in pitting workers against each other in a global race to the very bottom. All future trade agreements must include real worker and environmental protections in order to stop the flow of American and Canadian jobs to overseas labor markets offering cheap, exploitable labor.

In recognizing the threat so called “free trade” has on America’s manufacturing industries, the Sheet Metal Workers International Association has joined with its fellow AFL-CIO unions to form the Industrial Union Council. The IUC is developing joint strategies to help workers and their unions coordinate the fight against the flight of American jobs overseas.