We've worked hard and sacrificed a lot to get where we are today. Give us a level playing field and we can compete with anyone. But the import crisis has tilted the field and we're running uphill. John Saunders, president of USWA Local 1238, based in Martins Ferry, Ohio, said the import problem not only adversely affects the industry's work force, it plays havoc on local economies. There are communities and even regions in our country that rely heavily upon steel.
Steel companies pay large sums of taxes that support local and state governments.
Steel employees invest in their communities by supporting local businesses and by paying their fair share of taxes' Saunders explained. And consider the number of businesses that exist that buy steel and service our industry. This issue challenges all American steelworkers. Meanwhile, Weirton Mayor Dean Harris has agreed to coordinate a coalition of nearly 50 Ohio Valley mayors and various state legislators in Northern West Virginia, Eastern Ohio and Southwestern Pennsylvania. The coalition will lobby the Clinton Administration in support of the domestic steel industry.