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For more information contact the Manufacturers for Fair Trade (Cranesville, PA) at (814) 756-5765 or visit its website at www.mftcoalition.org.

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According to MFT president Dan Jepson - who also owns Jepson Precision Tool, Inc. (Cranesville, PA), a builder of custom thermoplastic injection molds for a variety of industries - the coalition was created in response to the crisis being caused by the loss of manufacturing in the U.S. "Foreign competition has been chipping away at U.S. manufacturing for several decades," he explains. "However, in the past few years, small and mid-sized U.S. manufacturers are going out of business at an alarming rate, and large manufacturers are rapidly moving their operations out of the U.S. because of foreign competition.

"This decline in U.S. manufacturing is critical because manufacturing does more than any other sector to stimulate the economy," Jepson continues. "The average income and consequent spending power of manufacturing workers is higher than that of any other sector and, because of its high multiplier effect, manufacturing directly or indirectly generates more jobs than any other sector. Furthermore, the loss of manufacturing represents the loss of many technologies critical to national security."

MFT Secretary Dave Frengel - who also is director of training and government relations for Saxonburg, PA-based Penn United Technology, Inc., a precision metalforming die maker and manufacturer - believes that it was time for U.S. manufacturers to come together and make a long-term commitment to change current U.S. policy. "I began to realize that what our country's leaders think they are seeing from 30,000 feet is very different from what we are seeing on the ground," he says. "Our national leaders are unaware of the real impact of current trade policy and the people to whom they are looking for input and advice are out of touch also.

"MFT leaders believe that manufacturing is essential to maintaining a strong, free and prosperous nation," Frengel continues. "Therefore, we believe that U.S. public policy must be more supportive of U.S. manufacturing and that manufacturing concerns committed to preserving critical domestic manufacturing must have a greater voice in shaping U.S. trade policy."

Joining Together
July, 2001 marked the first time that concerned business owners in the northwest Pennsylvania - one of the regions hardest hit by the troubled economy - held a summit in Erie, PA to call attention to the problem of foreign competition. Pennsylvania Congressman Phil English (R-PA) attended the meeting and decided to appoint one of his staff to work closely with the group over the next few months to help collect data regarding the moldmaking industry's predicament. Armed with this data, he then requested that the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee instruct the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct a Section 332 Investigation on the effect of foreign competition on the industry.

As a result, Congressman William Thomas (R-CA) - Ways and Means Chairman - ordered the investigation in December, 2001 and an ITC hearing was held in Washington, DC in May, 2002. A majority of those who testified at the hearing owned small to medium-sized manufacturing companies from various parts of the U.S. - many of them moldmakers. Congressman English and Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL) also testified, as did three industry associations and one large corporation. The report of the hearing and subsequent investigation by the ITC was released in October, 2002. This release officially documents a major crisis in the industry (visit www.usitc.gov for more information).

One day before the hearing, many of those who testified held an informal gathering to discuss long-term solutions to the problem. As a whole, the group felt that it would require a sustained broad political effort to adequately address what they called a serious national crisis. A steering committee was formed quickly to determine a plan of action over for the next several months, which was then joined by several other companies and associations - one of which lead to connections with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH). After meeting with several distressed business owners in Toledo, OH in July, 2002, Congresswoman Kaptur sent a letter - cosigned by Congressman Manzullo - to President Bush requesting that he create a task force to look into the problem at hand. Last August, committee members concluded that current U.S. economic and trade policy is not sufficient to steer the country through the unsteadiness of the new global economy. According to Jepson, this is primarily because multinational corporations, international banking, and other international concerns dominate U.S. economic and trade policy decisions. They also decided to form a new coalition to address this issue because they felt believed that no other organizations are effectively representing the fundamental interests of U.S. manufacturing with federal policy makers regarding international trade issues.

As a result, MFT was created at a meeting in August, 2002 in McLean, VA and names its mission "to identify and promote fair trade policies that preserve and advance U.S. manufacturing because manufacturing is critical to the strength and prosperity of our nation and its citizens." (see Governing Statements sidebar). Olav Bradley - a vice president of MFT and president of Schaumburg, IL-based PM Mold Co., Inc., a full- service company encompassing design concept to molded part - characterizes the loss of American jobs as "devastating, absolutely horrible" and emphasizes that MFT can - and will - make a difference.

MFT board member Michelle Cleveland - who also is vice president of the Right Place Program, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI), a regional economic development group, regional manager of Michigan Manufacturing Extension Partnership Center (MEP) and vice president of CAMTI - also sees MFT impacting the way this country views manufacturing. "I admire this group of individuals that have dedicated themselves to this cause," she says. "They all are running businesses at various levels of success right now in this economy and to find the time to dedicate to this is amazing to me. There is just a dynamic swirl of activity around the value of manufacturing and what are we doing as a nation to understand how important it is and how it can grow through innovation."

Springing Forward
Today, the MFT coalition is poised to move forward by more aggressively recruiting additional members, seeking funding for its efforts and trying to gain more national support. "Our goal is to let the public know that free trade is essential to the future prosperity of all nations, but free trade has to be fair trade," Jepson emphasizes (see Fair Trade and its Relationship to Manufacturing sidebar at the end of this article). "Any trade that is conducted in an unfair manner is detrimental to the country that is the victim of the unfair trade. It is the right of the victims of unfair trade to seek remedies to prevent unfair trade from occurring so that the goal of free trade can be achieved."

Furthermore, Frengel points out that MFT maintains that U.S. trade policy must "carefully balance the expansion of free trade with the maintenance of U.S. liberty, sovereignty and economic stability and that it must be crafted to maintain a balance of world power in favor of nations that support political, economic and individual freedom."

The MFT coalition cites China as a primary example of a country that "presumes to trade unfairly for self-benefit at the cost of global competitors," Jepson notes. "China uses subsidization of factories and subsidization of their infrastructures. Its people work very inexpensively - which in and of itself is not a problem - but because of the command and nature of their its economy there really is no room for advancement and no recourse for its employees to seek better wages. The government dictates what they will make: They do not receive any benefits, they do not receive any environmental protection, and the list goes on.

"In China, there is such a disparity in the standard of living, and it really is a command economy, so there is no opportunity for the Chinese to raise their standard of living so that we would have a chance to be competitive in their market," he continues. "It really is a closed market to U.S. goods and services - except for those that the government in China has deemed to be worthwhile for their efforts. Those companies are then courted and invited to build infrastructure within China so that they can do business in China. We do not require that in the U.S. - any country with a legitimate product can come into the U.S. market and market its product here. So, again, an unfair situation exists that actually encourages U.S. companies to move jobs from the U.S. to China just for the opportunity to produce low-cost goods there that they can then ship back and sell to the U.S. consumer."

Jerry Lirette - also a vice president of MFT and president of D-M-E Co. of (Madison Heights, MI), a supplier of a number of products to moldmakers and die makers in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world - adds, "Currently, there is a huge gap between free trade and fair trade. As an example, a mold base from China being imported to the U.S. is subject to a duty of just over more than 3 percent, whereas a U.S. mold exported to China is subject to economic barriers of just under less than 30 percent. The elimination of economic barriers alone will not solve all of the problems, but it is a start down the path of fairness that is currently being ignored.

"One of the primary goals of MFT will be to create an awareness of the tremendous gaps that exist between free trade and fair trade and influence policy makers to close the gap before the impact on the U.S. is irreversible," Lirette continues. "This is not just about the plight of the U.S. toolmakers - it is about the future of the U.S. itself. This country achieved its standard of living, its strength, and its position of prominence in the world as a result of its manufacturing capabilities. This strength is being allowed to erode as a result of trade practices that drive manufacturing offshore and ignore the future of the country in the name of free enterprise. As it erodes, our nation and the security of future generations suffers and will continue to do so with increasing severity. Our ability to protect and defend ourselves - let alone help other countries of the world - is deteriorating at an alarming rate. The trade deficit is skyrocketing monthly, and the government is not calling for any balance-of-trade measures. The mission in front of us is huge, but the stakes for our country and for our future generations are too high to ignore it any longer. As a nation, we must start molding our trade policies around the good of our nation and not around the public corporations that are trading our future for their next quarter's earnings."

To that end, MFT is moving forward with a Legislative Day planned for the spring - a move that MFT hopes will generate national awareness of the plight of manufacturing. MFT will begin Legislative Day by holding a press conference and then visiting legislators, senators and congressmen in Washington, DC from around the nation. "We are going to directly ask for their help with our efforts to seek to have either an Undersecretary of Commerce appointed or a special small manufacturing presidential task force appointed to bring to light all of the issues mentioned thus far and to have a voice within the government," Jepson states. "We do have a few congressional champions right now who have spoken out very strongly on our behalf. We want to go to them and ask them to sign on to an invitation to their remaining Congressional colleagues to join with them in making these requests."

Jim Zawacki, an MFT board member and president of GR Spring & Stamping, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI) - a custom manufacturer of metal stampings, progressive die, slide stampings, springs, wire forms and value-added assemblies - who joined MFT because of his belief that manufacturing is the backbone of American society, brings years of experience to MFT's cause. In addition to working closely with MFT's board of directors, he also is chairman of the PMA and has been past president of the Spring Manufacturers Institute (SMI). He acknowledges that both associations are experiencing severe pressure from Asian competition. "Our trade laws need help," he emphasizes. "The strong dollar kills manufacturing, rules and regulations cost us more than any other country, and no one represents manufacturing in Washington, DC."

Gaining Awareness
Frengel is optimistic about MFT's goals. "I expect MFT to impact the public dialogue on trade policy significantly and that this will gradually get our national leaders to see that protecting our nation from destruction is not protectionism," he states. "Protecting the U.S. from destruction from any source - including economic - is good and it is their sworn duty. I expect to see Congress and the President develop a more intelligent approach to international trade."

Zawacki would like to see a department-level post of Secretary of Manufacturing created. "There is a Secretary of Agriculture when there is less then 5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 3 percent of the jobs in this sector," he says. "Can we not do the same for manufacturing?" Additionally, Zawacki feels believes that the U.S. should offer positive incentives for other companies to invest in this country, such as investment tax credit, tax incentives for hiring more employees in the U.S. fair-trade policies, limits on the amount of the unfavorable balance of trade any one country can represent to 10 percent, controls for medical costs, revisions to the legal system related to the Tort and Liability law, and massive education for the American public about lean - including labor management and government learning to be more competitive.

"This issue is much more than any one person or any one company or trade association can handle," Cleveland emphasizes. "Fortunately, various associations finally are coming around and are really beating the drum to the tune of manufacturing. We need to make recommendations - short-, mid- and long-term - to keep a viable environment to trade freely and fairly in the world's economy. It is really going to require the involvement of everyone in this country who understands and contributes to the economy. We need to let the world know what manufacturing means to this country's long-term viability in the global manufacturing economy."

"Everyone should be concerned about trade issues and the decisions that the government is making regarding the future of manufacturing," Jepson concludes. "We want to reach out to all manufacturing sectors and put forth a unified effort across the board." Clearly, the future of American manufacturing is at stake - as well as the strength of the U.S. as a nation.