USW Fighting for Economic Renewal that Works

Plan calls for good jobs, union choice, domestic content

Pittsburgh  – The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced a massive economic renewal mobilization campaign, Make Our Future Work, which taps into the record-breaking level of election activism and answers President Obama’s call to “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”

The campaign calls on the union’s 1.2 million active and retired members to mobilize around the USW’s economic renewal plan, which focuses on resurrecting American manufacturing as the foundation for the nation’s economy.

The announcement comes the same week as the historic inauguration of President Obama, who was endorsed by the Steelworkers and has made fixing the broken economy a top priority. During his speech, Obama said: “The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. “

“After witnessing such hope this week, I’m convinced more than ever that we must once again become a nation whose economy thrives on making things and creates wealth through middle class prosperity,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard, who attended the inauguration on behalf of the union at the invitation of the president.

“President Obama has made it clear that he wants our nation to have an economy that delivers on the promise of America. Our union is heeding his call – we’re ready to work,” Gerard said. “Our plan pushes for meaningful, sustained solutions that put people back to work. It promotes infrastructure investment and green jobs that help solve our energy problems, demands that we spend tax dollars on products with domestic content, and supports allowing workers to freely join unions to help boost our middle class.”
 
The 10,000-plus Activist Corp who participated in the recent political campaign season as well as thousands of other activists involved in the union’s Rapid Response, Women of Steel, Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees and other programs will mobilize locally and nationally to help fight for legislation, including the Employee Free Choice Act. The proposal allows workers who want a union _ instead of employers _ to choose how they want to organize and collectively bargain for a better life.

Union members in every state will be working to educate co-workers and their communities about the USW plan, push for government solutions at the local, state and federal levels and participate in rallies, hand-billing, lobbying and other events.

More information about the campaign, including upcoming events, can be found at www.makeourfuturework.org or www.usw.org.

The USW represents 850,000 workers in the U.S. and Canada employed in the industries of metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service sector.

###