We are the United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union. We’re 1.2 million members and retirees strong in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. We proudly represent men and women who work in nearly every industry there is. Our members are leaders in your communities, in your work places, in our governments and more. We have a presence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, England, Scotland, Mexico and many other places around the world.

We believe in better. We stand up and fight back for better. We work for working families around the world.

For a quarter-century, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has failed workers. CEOs continue to shutter factories in the U.S. while pursuing low wages and lax environmental standards as they set up shop in Mexico. For those U.S. workers who hang on to their jobs, there is still downward pressure on wages and benefits from this lopsided playing field. In Mexico, workers struggle to make gains.

Just ask Mickey Ray Williams, President of USW Local 12. He keeps a tire in his conference room as a reminder. It’s an Assurance All-Season tire that was first developed at Goodyear’s Gadsden factory in 2014, the same facility where Williams has worked for 17 years, following in his father’s footsteps, who retired from the plant after 36 years. Now, possibly all of these tires are being built in a brand-new, half-billion-dollar plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. 

At the very same time, Williams is dealing with Goodyear’s decision to lay-off his members. You see, at his plant, a U.S. worker makes around $24 an hour. In Mexico, Goodyear pays workers less than $2 an hour for the same work. This broken system isn’t designed to benefit workers here or in Mexico. It’s designed to maximize corporate profits.

In addition to the need for labor enforcements, a renegotiated NAFTA must also fix the monopoly rights for pharmaceutical corporations that would allow them to keep drug prices sky high (more info at usw.to/meds). We have the opportunity to do this right.

Leo Gerard is retiring

Meeting with CVX on the unilateral move to McKittrick. 

Steve Sullivan present.