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Is trade to blame?
In a presidential election year, competing in a global market sparks a debate: Has U.S. trade policy done more to hurt or help Ohio?
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Extras
Hewitt Soap is one of 30 Dayton companies whose workers received Trade Adjustment Assistance because workers their jobs at least in part because of global competition. At its peak, Hewitt soap was the nation's second largest specialty soap maker, including the small bars used in hotels.Related links
- Article: Is trade to blame?
- Article: Ohio workers peg job losses to trade agreements — but should they?
- Article: Trade agreements are likely to be a presidential campaign issue
- Article: Presidential candidates' trade strategies
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Nobody knew it at the time, but one of the keys to the 2008 presidential race in Ohio was hatched in February 1976.
That's when workers at the International Harvester plant in Springfield became among the first in Ohio to be offered federal retraining money because of jobs lost to global competition.
In the years to follow, more than 1,300 Ohio companies would get Trade Adjustment Assistance from the federal government. And over the last decade, the pace has quickened: Between Nov. 4, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2007, TAA qualified 42,055 Ohio workers at 360 sites for retraining, ranking the state behind only North Carolina, California and Michigan for the number of workers affected.
When the presidential candidates come to Ohio, as they will over and over during the campaign, they will encounter an electorate reeling from job losses many blame on trade deals run amok.
Proponents of U.S. trade policy say disappearing manufacturing jobs are a downside of doing business in a global economy. As competition gets more fierce and manufacturers work to become more efficient, they say, some jobs will inevitably fall by the wayside. But they argue that free trade helps Ohio in the long run by creating markets for American products.
Nearly one-fourth of all manufacturing workers in Ohio depend on exports for their jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. "Exports are absolutely critical to the manufacturing sector staying viable," said Rob Portman, former U.S. Trade Representative and one-time southwest Ohio Republican congressman. "Yet politicians keep saying trade is bad. I don't think that's consistent with the facts."
But try telling that to people like John Folk. He is the former president of United Steelworkers Local 5369, the union that represented Huffy workers when the company left Celina in 1998. On the last day of production, Folk watched as his colleagues left their shoes in the parking lot before driving off in their stocking feet. It was a silent challenge to the company to try to fill their shoes.
The company did — in China. Folk watched again as some of his colleagues went to other factories, only to see them close as well.
Folk retrained and went back to work in Mercer County's Workforce Investment Act office, but he said training isn't always practical for those close to retirement or struggling to get by.
Folk said, "A lot of people still need to keep a roof over their head."
Contact this writer at jwehrman@coxohio.com
