No possible effort by a steel workers union is going to stop globalization from hollowing out US manufacturing. That's a problem that has to be tackled at a higher level.
Old technology meant steel coming out of PA was expensive. Steel should have presented a united front (labor and employers) demanding Carter and Reagan address dumping and drive for modernization --even if that meant fewer workers in the future --but at least the industry would remain.
After US announced 30% tariffs on imported solar panels, a Chinese company said they'd build a factory in the US [1].
We should demand fair reciprocal trade. None of this WTO, promises we put up with.
The panel tariffs are a problem because it's possible the negative impact on non-manufacturing (solar installations, etc) will cancel out the benefits from the tariffs :( But yes, there are definitely things the government could have done to protect local manufacturing. I'm still not sure the steel industry could've been saved. At this point I think the real failure is that the government didn't do enough to help people trapped in dying rust belt cities. Unions can't bear the blame for that.
Old technology meant steel coming out of PA was expensive. Steel should have presented a united front (labor and employers) demanding Carter and Reagan address dumping and drive for modernization --even if that meant fewer workers in the future --but at least the industry would remain.
After US announced 30% tariffs on imported solar panels, a Chinese company said they'd build a factory in the US [1].
We should demand fair reciprocal trade. None of this WTO, promises we put up with.
[1]http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/30/news/economy/jinko-solar-us-...