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March 16, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
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AND BUY UNION
AND AMERICAN-
MADE.
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Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
TRADE
BUY UNION
AFL-CIO applauds Trump for imposing
tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum
No more ‘American Idle’?
President Donald Trump on
March 8 signed paperwork enact-
ing import tariffs of 25 percent on
steel and 10 percent on aluminum
during a White House event at-
tended by a handful of steel and
aluminum workers.
To enact the tariffs he em-
ployed a rarely used legal provi-
sion known as Section 232 that
allows the president to impose
tariffs unilaterally if imports are
determined to pose a national-se-
curity risk. Canada and Mexico
were temporarily exempted from
the tariffs, and Trump held out the
possibility that other allies could
later be excluded as well.
The move drew praise from
AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka. “Wall Street’s hair is on
fire over these tariffs because
wealthy investors enrich them-
selves by closing mills and facto-
ries in the United States and mov-
ing them overseas,” Trumka said
in a statement. “Using tariffs isn’t
going to start a trade war. There’s
been a war on working people for
decades, and we have been get-
ting our butts kicked.”
Trumka said there are 435 tar-
iffs in place today to fight trade
cheaters. “People may not like
how President Trump rolled these
out, but I applaud him for trying.”
The tariffs take effect March
23.
UAW is calling on Americans to
buy American. And sing about it.
Remember the “Look for the
Union Label” jingle on TV? If
you do, you’re probably over 50:
The ad, created as part of a
union-sponsored contest, last
aired in 1981. [Watch it at
nwlaborpress.org/buy-union].
United Auto Workers (UAW)
is ready for an update: On March
7, it announced a “Make it in the
USA” song and video contest
with four $5,000 prizes for the
best 2018 version of the jingle.
The Make it in the USA contest
calls on participants to submit
short videos that focus on the
NATIONAL
Teachers strike in West Virginia results in 5% raise
A nine-day strike by West Vir-
ginia teachers and support staff
ended in victory March 6 with
lawmakers agreeing to a 5 per-
cent wage hike for all public
employees in the Mountain
State.
The work stoppage by 33,000
teachers, who rank near the bot-
tom nationally in pay and bene-
fits, started Feb. 22 and closed
every school in the state. Teachers
then took their protest to the state
capitol in Charleston, where they
found strong support from work-
ers across the United States.
After much resistance, the
GOP-led Legislature agreed to
the wage increase. Gov. Jim Jus-
tice signed the bill on March 6.
Randi Weingarten, president of
the American Federation of
Teachers, told Reuters that the
strike was indicative of the state’s
long history of labor activism as
a coal mining hub, and of the
planning that educators had done
before walking out.
“When you are pushed to the
brink, people will stand up and
show up and they will fight for
themselves and their families,”
she said.
value of manufacturing and buy-
ing products domestically. Prizes
will be given to winning entries
in each of four categories: song;
non-song; union member; and
people’s choice. The deadline for
submissions is April 25, and the
winning videos will be an-
nounced June 1.
“By manufacturing goods in
the United States and spending
our consumer dollars on those
goods, we strengthen our com-
munities from the ground up,”
said UAW International President
Dennis Williams. “This contest is
an innovative way to get Ameri-
cans to think about how they can
reward employers who respect
worker rights and the environ-
ment, and who hire from the
community and give back to
those who help us all grow.”
The contest will be judged by
Tom Morello from Rage Against
the Machine; Heather McGhee
from the think tank Demos; and
John Acosta, president of the
American Federation of Musi-
cians Local 47, which represents
more 7,000 professional musi-
cians in southern California.
TO FIND OUT MORE
Visit BuildBuyUSA.org/contest