Brown sympathizes with Lorain steelworkers -- but wants to see trade cheating fixed
August 2, 2016
By: Katie Nix, The Chronicle-Telegram
August 2, 2016
LORAIN — Former Lorain resident and current U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown made a trip back to his old stomping grounds Monday afternoon for a roundtable with local and national officials regarding the city’s economic future.
“As someone who used to live in Lorain, I talk to people about the declining steel industry all the time,” said Brown, who represented the area as a congressman in the 1990s and early 2000s. “I spoke with the mayor about it as soon as last week and (state Rep. Dan Ramos) and I have discussed it on multiple occasions. I also speak to residents about how the declining industry has affected them.”
Both Ramos and Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer attended the roundtable along with U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Lorain County commissioners Ted Kalo and Matt Lundy as well as several union officials.
With the layoff of 200 workers and the indefinite idling of the Republic Steel plant that began in March, the city has a $3.6 million deficit brought on by a loss of tax revenue.
Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, said in order for Lorain to recover, the city needs to look at revamping its tax policies, and it needs to be better protected by trade enforcement.
“There needs to be partnerships with the Department of Commerce and other national agencies,” he said. “We need to be looking at tighter trade enforcement, but with the illegal dumping and subsidization of Chinese steel, the challenges are greater than they ever have been. We need to fix the cheating.”
Dumping occurs when foreign steel is brought into the United States and sold below the domestic market price. The U.S. has rules against steel dumping but countries, such as China, are some of the biggest offenders.
“When the steel is dumped, the effect is almost immediate on the market, but hearings to make sure our trade policies are being enforced can take anywhere between four to six weeks. We want to speed that process up,” Brown said.
Pritzker said her department wants to make steel dumping cases easier to prosecute.
“Dumping is the highest it’s been in years,” she said. “Part of the problem is it’s being dumped in other countries and then traded here, and we don’t necessarily know that it’s been dumped, and it adversely affects our market.”
Pritzker said from talking to members of the United Steel Workers Local 1104 and other local unions at the roundtable she also wants to bring in better workforce training for those in steel mills.
“We want to make sure that individuals are getting the training they need to perform their duties and also move up,” she said. “With one in five of the nation’s steelworkers living in Ohio, these are steps that need to be taken.”
Ritenauer said he agreed with Brown and Pritzker, who called for economic development partnerships between the local and national governments.
“I think one of the biggest things we need to be focusing on is the economic development part of our future and the key to that is in Washington, D.C.,” Ritenauer said. “The support from those national agencies and departments is so important because they have the funds necessary to make some of the improvements we need and to bring new businesses in.”
Ritenauer said while he’s dedicated to bringing in different industries to Lorain to diversify, he still thinks a major component of the city is its manufacturing.
“The era of 20,000 steel jobs are gone,” he said. “Those days aren’t coming back, but I think it’s still a huge part of who we are and what we bring to the table. The international economy wreaked havoc on us, and so we need to be looking at other opportunities that we might have on our waterfront and on the west side of town or at the industrial park on the east side. Manufacturing has declined in Lorain, but it’s not dead.”
Brown said he felt the steel industry will bounce back in Lorain to an extent because of the ebb and flow of the market but not all of the jobs will return.
“The problem is when you lose good, union jobs like this, it has an affect everywhere in the city — you have a hard time getting to keep firefighters and police officers and other city employees and services,” he said.
Pritzker said the ripple effect from the layoffs was evident at the roundtable.
“Declining economies make it so difficult to support firefighters, police officers, roads, parks, schools, everything,” she said. “For me, these issues aren’t at a macro level. They’re personal, and when I meet people that have been devastated by the layoffs and trade policies, it motivates me to go after it and change them.”