The vice president of the United Steelworkers (USW) explains why his union is leading the effort to strengthen and grow America’s shipbuilding industry, which has been in decline in recent decades.
Jamie Walker is the Deputy District Director for District 1 of the United Steelworkers (USW). Walker joined USW President Dave McCaul, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sen. Bob Casey (D-Wis.), and representatives from five other unions in Washington, D.C., in March. meet up at Announcing the Filing of a Section 301 Trade Petition About China’s predatory shipbuilding practices. The Biden administration then agreed with President Biden to investigate. hopeful action If China is found to be acting unfairly.
Walker represents all of northern Ohio in USW membership. He joined the union at the age of 18 as a blacksmith operator at the Ohio Star Forge in Warren, Ohio. After 23 years of service at the factory, in 2018 he assumed a USW staff position and was promoted to Deputy District Director in December 2023. He represents many of the crews on commercial bulk carriers that sail the Great Lakes.
Walker spoke to Jeff Bonior about the trade case and why it is so important to strengthen and grow the shipbuilding industry in the United States.
Question: Why are you a representative member of the United Steelworkers in Section 301 shipbuilding litigation?
Answer: One of the reasons I’m involved in shipbuilding cases is because here in northern Ohio, I represent unauthorized crews on all the ore cargo ships in the Great Lakes that transport all the iron ore from the mines to the mills. It’s from. He has three companies here. Cleveland Cliffs is actually a Central Marine agency, which includes Interlake Steamships and Key Lake Shipping. Part of this shipbuilding incident involves our domestic vessels.
Q: Why is it important to have the domestic commercial fleet American-made?
A: This is not only important, it’s necessary. Because here in the United States, we have the Jones Act, which requires merchant ships traveling from domestic port to domestic port to be American-flagged, have American crew, and be American nationals. Manipulated. Part of the Jones Act states that these vessels must be built using 80% domestic materials. I think people forget that a lot of times in conflicts and large-scale conflicts, we’re talking about national security. The idea of maintaining a strong merchant fleet is that in the event of a major conflict, those ships would often be turned over by aircraft carriers, supply ships, etc.
Q: Is there currently any Great Lakes shipbuilding going on?
A: At this point, Interlake Steamship, for example, just built a new ship last year, and it was the first new ship built on the Great Lakes in almost 40 years. Interlake wanted all of Cleveland-Cliffs’ steel to be used in the construction of the ship. They used all Cliffs steel in the construction of the ship. For them and for us, it was like completing the entire supply chain.
Q: Are Canadian vessels operating in the Great Lakes subject to the same types of restrictions as vessels manufactured in the United States?
A: Years ago, Canada had shipbuilding restrictions, but legislation moved Canada away from those laws. At the moment, most Canadian airlines buy ships from China. So the price difference alone puts domestic airlines at a huge disadvantage, but Canada doesn’t have to because we believe that U.S.-flagged ships should be American-made. They are literally buying ships that are all made in China. As a result, 95% of the cargo carried in the Great Lakes is carried by the Chinese-made Canadian fleet, while the U.S. fleet carries only 5%.
Q: Will the United States be able to rely on China to procure merchant ships like Canada?
A: We cannot allow that to happen here, especially if we are involved in a major conflict. At the national security level, we need to be able to build ships and turn them over so that we can supply military ships from the commercial side.
Q: Is quality a consideration when comparing ships built in China to ships built in U.S. shipyards?
A: Of course. Many of the U.S.-built vessels on the Great Lakes are 70 to 75 years old and still working. These ships should eventually be replaced by ships manufactured in the United States. In Canada, where all ships are made in China, there is a shipping company called Algoma Enterprises. The ship actually broke in two. This happened while the car was being towed to China for repairs. It was being towed and it literally snapped in half and had to be pulled away from the tug so it could sink without sinking the tug. That’s the quality difference we’re talking about.
Q: How many jobs have been lost in the U.S. shipbuilding industry since the domestic industry’s workforce began to decline precipitously in the 1980s?
A: My union, the United Steelworkers, claims 70,000 shipbuilding jobs have been lost, not to mention secondary and indirect jobs in the shipbuilding supply chain.
Q: Which American steel mills produce the steel used in shipbuilding?
A: I know that the Cleveland-Cliffs plant in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, manufactures plates that are used directly in military shipbuilding. Although there are no factories in my district that manufacture steel products specifically for ships, we have sufficient supply chain capacity. There was a factory here in Cleveland called Cleveland Wire Cloth that manufactured screens used in air filters for marine pneumatic systems. They lost that job years ago to a foreign manufacturer that certainly had the ability to make products for ships. Hunt Valve, located in Salem, Ohio, manufactures actuators, valve accumulators, and other products used on Navy ships. They have all the capacity in the world to produce for domestic ships, but here in the United States that capacity remains empty because there are so few ships under construction.
Q: Are there other shipbuilding jobs available to USW members?
A: Some companies are still manufacturing parts, while others are completely out of work. The optical fibers connected to the ship are made by steelworkers. With the exception of the hull exterior steel, all thin steel, electrical steel, and air filters can and often are manufactured at Cleveland-Cliffs. The steelworker workforce is very diverse and there are now so many supply chains that are also involved in shipbuilding. He says there are four or five locals in Toledo who make glass for cars, and they could definitely be making glass for shipbuilding. If you consider the entire United States, last year he built 10 ships, so there’s not that many windows.
Q: The USTR has indicated its intention to move forward with Petition 301 and investigate China’s shipbuilding practices, but what kind of ruling will be favorable to the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry?
A: To be successful, we could begin to impose and balance tariffs and tariffs on ships and all the parts that make up ships that are manufactured overseas. We believe we have sufficient shipbuilding capacity and are currently at risk of losing it, and we still have the ability to recover some of this work, which is why the lawsuit was filed. The reason is. And people on the supply chain side have the ability to do this as well. It shows how escaping these laws and engaging in unfair trade puts us at a disadvantage, and how it leads to a complete decline in domestic shipbuilding capacity.
