USWA Blasts Bush's Manufacturing Proposal

PITTSBURGH--Jan. 1, 20046, 2004--News From USWA: The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) today dismissed as "absurd election year double talk" the Bush Administration's call for a Manufacturing Council and other policy recommendations to arrest the devastating decline in manufacturing jobs.

"For the Administration to call for reducing environmental, safety and health regulations, which were all in place during the boom years of the Nineties," said USWA President Leo W. Gerard, "is an insult to every American worker, let the alone the 2.7 million workers who've lost their jobs since George Bush took office.

"If the Administration truly believes that funding the Manufacturing Extension Partnership is crucial, which it is," Gerard said, "the President should explain why he slashed its budget by 80 percent last year.

"Otherwise we'd be led to conclude that the Administration has become as disgruntled with its own policies on manufacturing as the rest of us."