THE STEEL WARS

March 16, 1999
		The U.S. steel industry is in crisis. Kwame Holman reports on what cheap foreign steel is doing to steel mill communities in the U.S.

Online Special: The NewsHour's 30th Anniversary Oct. 20, 2000: MacNeil and Lehrer mark the program's 25th anniversary. Other Resources: Feb. 23, 1999: Factory layoffs at Levis. Dec. 3, 1998: The impact of importing farm workers from foreign countries. Oct. 20, 1998: Some American companies are finding it difficult to sell their products overseas. NewsHour coverage of business issues.   H.R. 975	KWAME HOLMAN: The upper Ohio River Valley is steel country. And since 1909, Weirton Steel has been at its center. Nestled on hillsides in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, a strong working class community took root around the steel mill over the years. Today the City of Weirton continues to rely almost exclusively on steel for its livelihood. In fact, Weirton Steel is the largest industrial employer in West Virginia and the eighth-largest steel maker in America. But Weirton has seen better days.
	The steel industry has seen brighter days.
	DEAN HARRIS, Steel Worker: Well, the industry itself is very cyclical. And you're going to have your peaks and you're going to have your valleys. And during my 25 years, I've seen as much peaks as I have valleys. But, you know, as a steel worker living in this town, we all recognize those things can happen. KWAME HOLMAN: But what the American steel industry wasn't prepared for was the kind of foreign competition it faced over the past year. Richard Riederer is Weirton's chief executive officer. RICHARD RIEDERER, CEO, Weirton Steel Corp.: The American industry actually cannot meet all the needs of the consuming markets, and so consequently, rather than build that excess capacity, we've actually allowed that to come in from non-U.S. sources, imports -- not a big issue. KWAME HOLMAN: Not a big issue until last spring, when steel makers in this country began feeling the effects of the slumping economy in Asia. Foreign steel producers -- unable to sell in the suffering Asian market -- shipped their steel to the United States at rock-bottom prices. RICHARD RIEDERER: Prices dropped, from basically June to September, in about a three-month period of time, dropped about $80 a ton. $80 a ton on 100 million tons of steel that's out there in the marketplace is a lot of money. And also, in a lot of cases, they were selling that product at what we call dumped prices, prices that were below their cost.
	Japan, Russia and Brazil dumping steel
	KWAME HOLMAN: And so, last September, Weirton, eleven other domestic steel makers and two Steel Workers unions formally complained that Japan, Russia and Brazil violated trade laws by dumping steel in the United States at prices below what it would bring in their own countries. CHARLENE BARSHEFSKY, US Trade Representative: There is no dispute that this been an import surge of unprecedented proportion. It is of historic proportion. KWAME HOLMAN: US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky says the Clinton administration fully supported the steel industry's complaints. CHARLENE BARSHEFSKY: The administration expedited those cases in a manner unprecedented under the dumping law. It imposed retroactive duties once the dumping decision was made, and imports from the countries affected by those cases, Japan, Brazil and Russia, are literally down to nil. Overall, steel exports to the US in the last two months are down 34 percent. KWAME HOLMAN: But the damage was done. Because it couldn't compete with foreign steel at cut-rate prices, Weirton was forced to lay off 850 workers in the last year. Dean Harris was not one of them. He's a third-generation steel worker with substantial seniority. He's also the elected mayor of Weirton. KWAME HOLMAN: What's been the impact of the layoffs on the town? DEAN HARRIS, Mayor of Weirton: Well, right now we're not seeing any impact on revenue, as far as that's concerned, on the city, at this point. Certainly the businesses in town are being impacted by the layoffs, because obviously people are not out buying cars and buying appliances like they might normally do, because in the situation not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow. But the most difficult part from my position is have to go out and see people and try to understand their situation and try to help them as best that we can. KWAME HOLMAN: The main reason the American steel industry managed to survive, even flourish, over the past ten years, is the dramatic institutional changes it made. Companies downsized significantly and retooled their mills using advanced technology. CHARLENE BARSHEFSKY: Anyone who thinks steel is a smokestack industry doesn't know anything about steel or the remarkable, remarkable turnaround in this industry in the last decade. RICHARD RIEDERER: A lot of our equipment today is run by computers. We've upgraded people's capabilities. We've taken employment levels down, but productivity has gone up.
	Blaming the Clinton administration.
	KWAME HOLMAN: Weirton Steel's workers and officials say they took all the right steps to ensure they could compete against any steel maker in the world. They say they're in trouble now only because others broke the rules. In all, some 10,000 steel workers across the country saw their jobs washed away by the flood of imported steel. They claim the Clinton administration didn't act quickly enough, and that the action it did take wasn't enough. In January, steel workers staged a march and rally in Washington and enlisted the support of their elected representatives, Republicans and Democrats. SEN. ROBERT BYRD, (D) West Virginia: This administration would rather stand aside to help save jobs in Asia while American jobs drown in a sea of cheap steel from abroad. This administration stands aside while foreign steel floods into this country and washes away families and communities. KWAME HOLMAN: The steel workers in Weirton still remember the 1992 visit of then-candidate Bill Clinton, who promised to protect them from the very practices that now have cost many workers their jobs. PRESIDENT CLINTON: I want to first make sure we enforce strictly the antidumping laws and the laws against unfair subsidized steel being dumped into this country. That's not fair. If they're doing things for their steel we're not doing for ours, they shouldn't have access to our markets. ANDREW KAMAREC, Steel Worker: I even shook his hand out here when he was in Weirton. He told us that he would stop the import steel coming in. TERRI MANACK, Steel Worker: And it's hard. You know, I'm like Andrew, I have a sick daughter, you know. We're losing our benefits, you know. What are we going to do? KWAME HOLMAN: Who's to blame for this, Joe? JOE MURRAY, Steel Worker: I blame Mr. Clinton for all this, and Al Gore and Mr. Ruben. Them three guys are more worried about the global than they are this community and everywhere else. They don't care nothing about us people in Weirton here, or even the steel industry itself. KWAME HOLMAN: But during his recent State of the Union Address, President Clinton restated his pledge to protect Steel Workers. PRESIDENT CLINTON: I have already informed the Government of Japan that if that nation's sudden surge of steel imports into our country is not reversed, America will respond. CHARLENE BARSHEFSKY: To Japan we said, "your overall steel exports to the US must return to pre-crisis levels quickly, or we will self-initiate trade actions against Japanese steel." In the case of Russia, the Commerce Department negotiated a comprehensive agreement severely limiting Russian steel exports to the United States. Where imports come into this country, they had best be fairly traded, or the United States stands ready, as we have in steel, to take very dramatic action against those unfairly traded goods. That is something we can protect our workers from, and we intend to do just that.
	Congress debates a solution.
	KWAME HOLMAN: (On March 17), the House of Representatives will debate and vote on legislation that would restrict foreign steel imports to pre-crisis levels. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee debated the bill, HR 975, last week and argued whether the harm it could do outweighs the good. REP. BEN CARDIN, (D) Maryland: I support the legislation before us as a vehicle that could be effective in at least preserving our industry here in the United States and jobs in the United States, not as protectionists, but to enforce a remedy to those who have illegally taken advantage of the US market. REP. WILLIAM ARCHER, Chairman, Ways & Means Committee: I will oppose this bill and will recommend that the House defeat it. In fact, in very recent weeks, we have seen improvements already as steel imports have been coming down and are projected to continue to fall. KWAME HOLMAN: The Clinton administration opposes the legislation, as well. CHARLENE BARSHEFSKY: If we restrict steel imports into this country without following proper trade law procedure, what would we say if other countries did the same on our agriculture products, or on our steel-intensive capital goods exports? Other countries would feel perfectly within their rights to do exactly the same thing to us as we just did on steel. KWAME HOLMAN: Weirton Mayor and Steel Worker Dean Harris says he isn't convinced new legislation is needed, but that something needs to be done. DEAN HARRIS: You know, we've never asked for anything from the President, other than to have other countries abide by the laws that are already on the books. We don't want new laws. We don't ask for new laws. We ask nothing from anybody. We ask them to abide by the laws. That's the way we were raised in Weirton, and that's the way we expect the Clinton administration to carry through throughout the rest of the country. KWAME HOLMAN: Nonetheless, as they did in January, hundreds of Steel Workers are preparing to converge on Washington to push for a law to set steel quotas, hoping for a House vote tomorrow large enough to override a presidential veto. --This NewsHour report was broadcast March 16, 1999. (Editor's note, on March 17, the House of Representatives passed HR 975 by a vote of 289-141. A vote of 290 would overturned a veto.)