United Steelworkers Supports Anti-dumping Petition Against China

In a November 7 letter to the secretary of commerce, Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW), stated that “On behalf of the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, I write in support of the antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China.”

The United Steelworkers has 850,000 members and is one of the largest manufacturing unions of North America.

“In September 2010 the USW filed a Section 301 petition to the United States Trade Representative describing in detail the various subsidy programs and discriminatory measures China has created and actively pursues to advance its clean technology industries, including solar,” the letter. “While we are pleased that as a result of the 301 petition USTR successfully prosecuted an illegal subsidy program at the WTO in the wind energy area, enough has not been done to counter China’s deliberate and distinctly concentrated effort to develop its clean energy sector, including solar. … We urge you to vigorously apply and enforce our trade laws in these solar cases so that American workers and domestic industries can have a fair chance to compete in the U.S. market.”