Vice President of Local 1104 Testifies for Hearing on Renewing Prosperity in the Industrial Heartland: An Economic Agenda for Forgotten Communities

On August 18, 2021, Vice President of Local 1104 Richard Cain testified for the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth for their hearing on “Renewing Prosperity in the Industrial Heartland: An Economic Agenda for Forgotten Communities.”

Chairman Himes, members of the committee thank you the opportunity to testify today. My name is Rick Cain and I am a vice president for United Steelworkers local 1104 and a forty-five-year career steelworker. I call Lorain and the surrounding community my home. My wife and I raised three kids here and they have blessed me with ten grandkids. Minus five years in the early 1980’s I have been lucky to not spend a lot of time unemployed, but unfortunately for too many of my union brothers and sister’s – they have been on the front line of deindustrialization from globalization and a lack of domestic investment in our manufacturing sector.

This select committee is designed to discuss economic disparity and fairness in growth and my hometown is a prime example of the impacts when there is a lack of fairness in growth and economic equality. In Lorain, we’ve seen this decline first hand. When I first started in the steel industry there were over 10,000 workers maintaining and operating the mill. This number has steadily decreased over time until today I am one of 60 employees working at Republic steel’s bar mill.

Some of these jobs lost over the years can be accounted to automation, or poor management decisions but the lack of federal industrial policy, robust public investment in our schools and communities and past failed trade agreements supported by both Republican and Democratic administrations has pounded my community and others like it across the country.

This did not happen overnight and it is important to take a long view to explain how economic disparity has deep roots that will be hard to remove. My written testimony has more detail but a key point is the U.S. has suffered a net loss of more than 91,000 manufacturing plants and nearly 5 million manufacturing jobs since 1997. 

These lost jobs have led to systemic, long term displacement in communities like my own and the lack of attention by law makers has only made economic disparity worse and undermined the American dream. In Ohio, deindustrialization has left once-prosperous communities across the state poorer, weaker, and in some cases smaller.

This had led to lost incomes. Ohio, median household income trails the nation by about $5,300 dollars or what is roughly five percent of the cost of a Lorain area home. We have to reverse this trend and ensure that government policy uplifts our kids and communities. I believe my grandkids will succeed when given the proper tools. My family works hard and they deserve the good pay and good benefits that I have at my union job.

We need to rebuild from the ground up our policies that support workers and industry. We need to invest in our infrastructure, our schools and our communities. We need to make it easier for workers to have a union contract and we need trade policy that uplifts workers rights and ensures fair competition.

My union supports the infrastructure bill that will invest in communities across the country, I also support better labor laws like the PRO act that will make it easier to form a union.

Finally let me stress – we need to radically alter our trade policy to ensure we are exporting not just our goods but our ideals. For too long we’ve allowed free trade at all costs to undermine jobs without the tools to support workers. This impact is still being felt today. I look at the Avon Lake Ford plant and the announcement that the company will not invest the promised $800 million into the facility as the company looks to shift production to Mexico.  This is globalization impacting my neighbors.

The lack of preparation for the negative impacts of trade on communities like my own has led to local towns seeing drops in their tax base, layoffs in not just manufacturing but also in the public services we expect communities to have. We need strong trade laws that ensure fair competition and avoids unnecessary job loss.

I am hopeful that we can reverse income inequality and create a more fair and just economy. It is my belief that these three ideas – investment in our communities, better labor laws, and better trade deals will create a more prosperous and equitable America. One that I want my grandkids to live and thrive in. Thank you for the chance to testify today and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.