Us Steel Bosses Demand Import Controls

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Crisis of leadershir The steel industry internationally is facing a major crisis which is leading to widespread attacks on jobs and conditions and threatens to unleash a trade war between the major steel producing nations.

Demand for steel has still not returned to the levels which existed before the 1974-75 international trade recession. During 1977 the industrialised nations will make and sell only 85% of the 1973-4 levels.

Projected production figures for this year have been overestimated by almost 10%. In the USA, steel share prices have dropped 33%o while the Dow Jones average for all shares has only fallen 11%.

Between 60% and 70% of new steel goes into plant construction. The fact that new plant construction is not underway on a big enough scale despite continual talk of an "upturn" , means that steel stock are piling up everywhere.

The lack of capital spending results from the fear that enough profit will not be forthcoming to make the investment worthwhile.

COMPETITION

As the steel sales fall, competition between producers is sharpening and at present focuses on complaints from US manufacturers that European and Japanese V1 1 companies are 'dumping' on the US market at artificially low prices.

Steel imports have risen by 16% this year and almost 20% of US requirements are being supplied from abroad.

A massive campaign has been launched by the US manufacturers against foreign producers.

Georgetown Steel has announced it is filing an anti-dumping suit against a French Steeimaker; US Steel filed one last month against the Japanese and is considering similar action against European manufacturers; National Steel is considering a suit against British Steel.

One of the charges levelled at British Steel by US producers is that it is receiving an unfair subsidy from the government.

In addition to these measures, which use existing anti-dumping legislation, the American producers are pressing for further protection.

In particular, they want exemption from clean air and water laws, new tax breaks to raise profits, government subsidies to modernize ageing plants and an end to criticism of price increases.

LOCAL UNION 1938 The US steel producers carried their anti-import campaign into the recent meeting in Rome of the International Institute of Iron and Steel Manufacturers which spent much of the time available discussing how to avoid a trade war.

Prior to the start of the conference, EEC Commissioner for Industry Vicomte Etienne Davignon addressed an audience which included the heads of nearly all the biggest Japanese, US and European steelmakers:

"For you to believe that you can alleviate the crisis by closing your market is wrong. You will simply create a trade war."

During the conference Eurofer, (the club of European steelmakers) offered a voluntary curb on imports to the USA-if other steelmakers would do the same.

The arrangement would last for 2-3 years and is supposed to be parallel with a Japanese offer which has yet to be accepted by the US.

American manufacturers were reportedly hostile to these offers. They are continuing to press for stricter import controls.

While Japanese and European imports in the US run at around the same levels, the Japanese threat is the greater.

A comparison between the record of Japanese and US producers shows the greater efficiency of the Japanese.

In 1976 the USA produced 302 tonnes per production worker while the Japanese produced 459.

A CENTURY OLD Only one medium size mill has been built in the USA over the past 15 years. In the same period the Japanese have built 8 giant mills.

Few Japanese plants are over years old while some in the US back over a century.

The American ruling class is far from united on the question of A recent New York Times editorial said that:

"Shielding steel does nothing to eliminate basic problems of high production costs.

And it goes on to say that inefficiency would lead to higher prices and weaken American industry as a whole.

The major consumers of steel such as the car industry are opposed to protection of steel for these reasons and like other antiprotectionists would prefer a greater emphasis on rationalisation, leading to unemployment, speedup, the closing of old plants and the construction of new more efficient ones. The problems with this strategy are, of course, huge.

Such attacks on the working class would be socially explosive and the financial problems in funding the new plant are immense.

At any rate the whole process would take time. There exists.

therefore, the likelihood of strategy which combines anti-dumping moves with attacks on jobs, wages and conditions.

DEMANDS REJECTED The Carter administration has made it clear that it rejects the steel producers demands tor greater Carter has pointed to tre standing it: •.. Bad 0000803000300303= steelworkers PH

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UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA AN CTRIV