Tag Archive for: Shawn Fain

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UAW Applauds MI House Dems for “Putting Workers First” Bills, Urges Full Legislature to Pick a Side

LANSING, MI – The UAW today applauded Michigan House Democrats for introducing a bold workers’ rights ‘May Day’ legislative package, honoring International Workers’ Day and re-committing to fight for working-class Michiganders.

“For too long, corporations have hoarded the wealth the working class creates,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Michigan House Democrats are taking a step forward in fighting for workers with long-overdue protections against corporate greed. Every lawmaker in the state needs to pick a side: the corporate class or the working class.”

The UAW, representing over 300,000 active and retired members in Michigan, has been pushing since last year’s lame-duck session for real action to deliver for workers.

Among the bills introduced is legislation targeting “captive audience meetings,” where employers force workers to attend anti-union propaganda sessions during organizing drives. Since 2023, the UAW can cite over a dozen companies in southeast Michigan that have forced workers that are organizing into captive audience meetings — including Webasto’s $1.3 million union-busting campaign — showing just how badly reform is needed.

“Politicians love to visit union halls during election season. But the real test is what you do once you’re in office,” Fain said. “We thank the elected officials who stepped up this May Day — and we loudly call on the rest of the Michigan Legislature and Governor Whitmer to pick a side: join the labor movement and back the Putting Workers First legislative package.”

“It’s great to see legislators in the Michigan House standing up for working people by introducing this package of bills on May Day,” said Jason Peek, a member of UAW Local 602. “One of the bills would make sure bosses can’t just fire someone without a good reason. Right now, in Michigan, non-union workers can be let go for no reason at all. I’ve got this protection in my union contract, and I really believe every worker should have that same basic fairness.”

“May Day 2025 means we are three years from May Day 2028, where a lot of our contracts, including at the Big Three, are lined up to expire,” said UAW Local 228 member JJ Jewell. “We want to be able to exercise the power of a strike, if we must, without companies bringing in scabs. That’s why we need a bill like the one in this package that would ban so-called ‘replacement workers’ in Michigan.”

Earlier this year, the UAW laid out its legislative priorities for Lansing, including:

  • Guaranteeing strong wages and labor protections for all workers;
  • Strengthening health care access and affordability;
  • Enhancing retirement security so every worker can retire with dignity;
  • Promoting work-life balance to allow workers to lead full, healthy lives.

The UAW will continue to mobilize members to fight for these priorities — and for a legislature that stands with workers, not corporate interests.

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New UAW Analysis Shows U.S. Can Create Tens of Thousands of Auto Jobs Using Existing Capacity

Detroit, MI — Today, the UAW released a new deep-dive report, Unlocking the Potential of U.S. Auto Manufacturing Capacity, revealing that America’s auto industry has the infrastructure and skilled workforce to build millions more vehicles — and create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs — if companies invest at home instead of offshoring production and funneling more money to Wall Street.

In 2024, the United States had the capacity to manufacture over 14.7 million vehicles at active, existing plants, but produced only 10.2 million, leaving 4.5 million units of unused capacity. Plants across the country are underutilized because of high-exploitation race to the bottom practices that kill U.S. jobs and suppress wages for workers overseas, with the difference going straight to Wall Street.

Instead of using existing capacity, the Big Three and the rest of the auto industry loot the Rust Belt for stock buybacks and special dividends. Revitalizing the auto industry’s dormant capacity could create up to 90,000 new U.S. auto manufacturing jobs in short order, according to UAW estimates.

“We don’t need to break ground on a single new plant to rapidly grow auto manufacturing capacity — it’s already right in front of us, in the plants we’ve built, the skills of our members, and the communities that depend on these jobs,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Instead of offshoring jobs to low-wage, high-exploitation countries, auto companies must invest here at home and rebuild the middle class with union labor.”

The analysis shows that major automakers — GM, Ford, Stellantis, and Volkswagen — have steadily cut U.S. production even as they expanded output in Mexico. Since 2015, these companies have reduced annual U.S. vehicle production by 1.8 million units, hitting communities nationwide with plant closures, layoffs, and underutilized facilities.

“The working class built the auto industry — and we’re ready to build its future,” Fain continued. “Auto companies should be using this moment to scale up and add good jobs by investing in workers instead of Wall Street.”

View the full report here: https://uaw.us/ExcessCapacityPaper

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“INVEST IN US”: UAW Slams Stellantis for Preparing Massive Pay Day for Wall Street While Thousands of Workers are Laid Off in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Beyond

In a shocking move, Stellantis is preparing to spend billions of dollars on stock buybacks and dividends while autoworkers who build profitable vehicles are laid off and auto plants are underutilized across America.

At the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Amsterdam, the Stellantis Board of Directors has approved a $2.6 billion dollar dividend, while they consider an additional stock buyback of up to 10 % of the company’s stock, or $2.6 billion.

The UAW is calling on all allies of the working class to sign on to a petition demanding Stellantis invest in its workers, not just Wall Street.

“Two weeks ago, Stellantis said the sky was falling because of auto tariffs, and said they had to lay off workers, claiming they are losing money. But then all of a sudden, a miracle happened: they found billions of dollars, nearly half of last year’s profits, to pay to Wall Street!” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “This is everything that has been wrong with corporate America for decades. Instead of investing in the autoworkers and facilities that make this company run, Stellantis is putting Wall Street over Main Street. Stellantis could create thousands of good paying jobs in America in very short order by utilizing excess capacity in places like Toledo South Assembly in Ohio, Belvidere Assembly in Illinois, Mack, Warren, Trenton Engine in Michigan, and plants in Kokomo, Indiana. It’s time for Stellantis to stop looting the Rust Belt for short-sighted Wall Street jackpots. INVEST IN US!”

With $5 billion, Stellantis could reopen multiple plants, lower the price of vehicles, and regain their market share in the US auto market. Instead, the company is choosing to spend that money on Wall Street.

Some shareholders are pushing back as well on Stellantis’ $25 million payout for disgraced CEO Carlos Tavares. As part of the UAW’s Keep the Promise campaign, Tavares was ousted following his gross mismanagement of the company.

It’s time for Stellantis to get back on track building great vehicles in the US, using their unused capacity, and do right by the taxpayers, consumers, and autoworkers.

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One Year Later: VW Workers Celebrate Historic Breakthrough and Look Ahead to Locked-In Gains in First Union Contract

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — One year after making history as the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to unionize, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are preparing to secure a landmark first contract—one that guarantees, in writing, the better wages, benefits, and workplace protections they fought to win.

No longer at the mercy of Volkswagen’s shifting promises, workers are demanding a legally binding agreement that puts their priorities—fair pay, affordable health care, paid time off, safer working conditions, and protections against favoritism—into writing. Since their union victory in April 2024, they have elected a 20-person bargaining committee, which has been negotiating contract language that reflects the demands of the 4,000-member workforce.

For workers like Steve Cochran, a worker in the skills trades, the union is about securing a better future. The co-chair of the Bargaining Committee says a strong contract ensures that promises are delivered—and that respect and security are no longer up for negotiation.

Members are fighting for a contract that meets the standard already established across the U.S. unionized auto industry—and that matches Volkswagen’s record-breaking profits.

Just days after Volkswagen, the world’s second-largest automaker, reported $20.6 billion in profits for 2024, a new UAW survey of nearly 1,800 Chattanooga workers reveals the crushing financial impact of the company’s substandard U.S. health care. The results show a workforce plagued by high out-of-pocket costs and inadequate coverage—nearly 73% of respondents said they’ve either had to choose between medical care and essentials like rent or food, or gone into debt to afford care. That number climbs even higher among parents and caregivers with children on VW’s insurance plan, exposing the human cost of the company’s failure to meet industry standards.

Over the past four years, Volkswagen has funneled $29.9 billion to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. In response, Chattanooga workers are demanding their fair share—through real improvements in wages, benefits, safety, job security, and rights on the job. But this fight goes beyond economics. They are pushing for stronger safety standards, fair scheduling, paid leave, protection from unfair discipline, and a true voice in the decisions that shape their daily lives. After more than a decade of operating without a union, workers say it’s time to end the era of exploitation that has defined the Chattanooga plant since it opened in 2011.

But as bargaining has progressed, Volkswagen has escalated its anti-union tactics and shown flagrant disregard for U.S. labor law. In March, the UAW filed federal labor charges against the company for unilaterally cutting jobs and making major changes without negotiating with the union, in violation of federal law. This attack on American jobs and workers’ rights underscores the company’s disrespect and preference for low-wage production abroad.

Today, Volkswagen manufactures 75% of its North American vehicles in Mexico, where workers earn roughly $7 an hour. This business model relies on exploitation, suppresses wages across borders, and undermines American manufacturing.

Just weeks after the illegal shift reduction announcement, VW management locked workers out of their own bargaining session, calling security and shutting the doors on union members who came to observe and share their experiences. In response, workers took to the streets, holding a rally to demand respect and a fair contract.

UAW President Shawn Fain praised the Chattanooga workers for igniting a movement to raise standards for the working class across the South.

“VW workers made history a year ago—and now they’re making it count,” said Fain. “They stood up, took on the boss, and won their union. They’re fighting for a contract that reflects the power they have built and locks in real raises, real rights, and real respect. This is what happens when working-class people stand up together.”

The Chattanooga workers’ fight is not just about one plant—it’s part of a growing working-class movement to take back power, hold global corporations accountable, and build a future where all autoworkers, no matter where they are, have a collective voice to shape their working conditions and demand a share in the prosperity they create.

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Statement from UAW President Shawn Fain on Attacks on Federal Workers

Yesterday, President Trump signed an order that tramples on the union rights of more than a million federal workers, stripping them of their ability to negotiate over their working conditions. The 1 million members of the UAW stand with federal workers and their union, AFGE, against the attacks from the Trump administration.

When I was 12, the Reagan administration famously busted the air traffic controllers’ union, PATCO, firing over 11,000 striking controllers and blacklisting them from federal jobs. It wasn’t just about PATCO – it sent a message to employers everywhere that it was open season on the working class. The labor movement failed to act in that moment, and we have been paying the price ever since.

The actions the administration has taken today are many times worse than PATCO, affecting over 1 million federal employees across at least 18 agencies. These actions are not just an attack on unions—it’s an attack on free speech, on workers’ right to organize, on the very idea that people should have a say in their own jobs and futures. Our own members are affected by these actions, including hundreds of UAW members at National Institutes of Health.

We have learned from the past and won’t sit back quietly while unions are dismantled. The labor movement is not about party politics. We aren’t Democrats or Republicans. We’re trade unionists.  And when you come after workers, you’re going to find us standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to fight back.

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In a Victory for Autoworkers, Auto Tariffs Mark the Beginning of the End of NAFTA and the “Free Trade” Disaster

This afternoon, the Trump administration announced major tariffs on passenger cars and trucks entering the U.S. market, marking the beginning of the end of a thirty-plus year “free trade” disaster. This is a long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class and driven a race to the bottom across borders in the auto industry. It signals a return to policies that prioritize the workers who build this country—rather than the greed of ruthless corporations.

“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades. Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “But ending the race to the bottom also means securing union rights for autoworkers everywhere with a strong National Labor Relations Board, a decent retirement with Social Security benefits protected, healthcare for all workers including through Medicare and Medicaid, and dignity on and off the job. The UAW and the working class in general couldn’t care less about party politics; working people expect leaders to work together to deliver results. The UAW has been clear: we will work with any politician, regardless of party, who is willing to reverse decades of working-class people going backwards in the most profitable times in our nation’s history. These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S.”

BRINGING BACK THOUSANDS OF GOOD, UNION AUTO JOBS

With these tariffs, thousands of good-paying blue collar auto jobs could be brought back to working-class communities across the United States within a matter of months, simply by adding additional shifts or lines in a number of underutilized auto plants. Right now, thousands of autoworkers are laid off at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis following recent decisions by auto executives to ship jobs to Mexico.

Across a dozen Big Three auto plants that have seen major declines, production has fallen by 2 million units per year in the past decade, while millions of vehicles sold here are made with low-wage, high-exploitation labor abroad. That means auto companies that have made record profits get to drive wages down further for both Mexican and U.S. workers while Wall Street and the corporate class get record payouts.

Those plants include Ford Flat Rock Assembly (Flat Rock, MI), Ford Louisville Assembly (Louisville, KY), Ford Ohio Assembly (Sheffield, OH), Ford Michigan Assembly (Wayne, MI), GM Fairfax (Kansas City, KS), GM Lansing Grand River (Lansing, MI), GM Factory Zero (Detroit & Hamtramck, MI), GM Spring Hill (Spring Hill, TN), Stellantis Warren Truck Assembly (Warren, MI), Stellantis Toledo Assembly (Toledo, OH), Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly (Sterling Heights, MI), Stellantis Jefferson North Assembly (Detroit, MI). The same pattern can be seen in the heavy truck industry, whether at Freightliner in North Carolina, Navistar in Ohio, or dozens of other employers across the economy.

The economic benefits of filling these plants back up with product and good auto jobs would be enormous and have a cascading effect throughout communities from Michigan to Tennessee.

At Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the company recently violated labor law by unilaterally announcing the elimination of a shift during first contract negotiations. Volkswagen makes 75% of their North America product in Mexico for $7 an hour, and over 40% of their U.S. sales are produced by workers earning poverty wages in Mexico. That shift should be restored immediately as production shifts back to the US.

At Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Warren, Michigan, for example, over 1,000 autoworkers are laid off while the plant sits underutilized and $100,000 Stellantis trucks are built in Mexico for $3 an hour. These layoffs were announced less than six months ago and could be undone. Those jobs could be brought back to Michigan immediately with well-designed auto tariffs.

In addition to idle capacity at existing plants, there are plants that stand empty and with moderate retooling could easily employ tens of thousands of workers. Lordstown Assembly sits empty in Lordstown, Ohio, and employed nearly 10,000 autoworkers when NAFTA was passed. Belvidere Assembly is slated to reopen with around 1,500 jobs; as recently as 2019, the plant employed 5,000 autoworkers.

The Big Three have closed or spun off 65 facilities in the past 20 years. There is plenty of work to go around at profitable margins, and plenty of working-class people looking for good, union jobs. With a serious tariff regime, we can incentivize the Big Three and the rest of the auto industry to reinvest in the American autoworker, and America’s blue-collar communities.

WHAT THE WORKING CLASS NEEDS ON TRADE

Every time an autoworker dares to ask for fair pay, a decent retirement, healthcare, or work-life balance, the automakers threaten their job by exploiting a broken trade system that is set up to intimidate and threaten workers on both sides of the border.

The UAW has encouraged the Trump administration to take clear, aggressive action to bring back good, union auto jobs. We are heartened by the significant measures they have announced today, and we urge the administration to take similar action to protect and reshore the heavy truck sector. Beyond tariffs, a continued, dramatic shift in our country’s trade agreements and economic policies will be necessary to end the free trade disaster.

The next step is to immediately begin renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has only perpetuated NAFTA’s harmful effects by increasing the trade deficit with Mexico and allowing automakers to offshore U.S. jobs and drive a race to the bottom.

In a new trade deal, autoworkers have some simple demands:

  • A significant number of cars that are sold in the U.S. should be made in the U.S., with strong wages and good working conditions like those that generations of UAW autoworkers have fought and died for.
  • Companies must not be allowed to close factories and ship jobs to high-exploitation, low-wage countries, and to pad already-massive profits by driving a race to the bottom among autoworkers. This includes a North American minimum wage to significantly raise pay and benefits for Mexican autoworkers, along with stronger protections for labor rights and penalties for offshoring, so that workers are no longer forced to compete with one another over crumbs while the automakers walk away with a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.
  • Fix the auto parts supply chain, following the same principles: fair wages and benefits for all, and an increase in American-made parts for American-assembled and American-sold vehicles.

We can fix our broken trade deals to benefit workers. But we must be consistent, send clear signals to the auto industry, and make sure that working-class people – who have paid the price for so-called “free trade” for 30 years – don’t pay the price for this transition back to high-road manufacturing jobs.

As they shift their supply chains and investments to the US, auto companies that have enjoyed years of record profits should absorb the cost of these tariffs rather than passing them on to consumers, and the UAW would support legislative or regulatory action requiring them to do so. Workers must be held harmless during any disruption that accompanies the reshoring process, with financial support from the federal government if necessary.

And finally, the working class can’t wait. The auto companies have been given time to plan, and now it’s time to act.

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Volkswagen Chattanooga Workers Slammed with Crippling Health Care Costs—One in Three Struggles to Afford Auto Giant’s Subpar Insurance

Chattanooga, TN – Days after Volkswagen, the #2 automaker in the world, announced making $20.6 billion in profit in 2024, a new UAW survey of VW workers in Chattanooga reveals the devastating financial toll of VW’s substandard U.S. health care offerings.

A new comprehensive survey of nearly 1,800 Volkswagen’s Chattanooga workers paints a stark picture of a workforce burdened by inferior health care benefits and skyrocketing out-of-pocket expenses that not only lag industry standards, but have also contributed to widespread financial hardship, debt, and, in many cases, a decision to forgo necessary medical care altogether.

Nearly three out of four (73%) Volkswagen Chattanooga workers reported either being forced to choose between paying for medical care and other essential expenditures like rent and food or having borrowed money or declared bankruptcy to cover medical expenses; a rate that rises to four out of every five parents and caregivers with children on a VW health insurance plan.

The full report is available HERE. The 2025 health care survey of VW Chattanooga workers paints a dire picture of the real-world impact of the company’s substandard plans. Key findings include:

  • 67% reported being forced to choose between paying for medical care and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities, and food.
  • 58% admitted to borrowing money—via credit cards, loans, 401(k) withdrawals, or from family and friends—or filing for bankruptcy due to medical expenses.
  • 57% currently have outstanding medical debt, including accounts in collections and wage garnishments.
  • 18% of survey respondents rely on publicly-funded TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program, to insure their children – allowing VW to shift their responsibility to employees on to TN taxpayers.
  • 29% have faced financial hardship specifically due to medical bills from a workplace injury.
  • 20% have been forced to take on a second job simply to pay for their medical bills.

In addition to completing the survey, hundreds of VW workers surveyed shared personal stories about being forced to skip urgently necessary medical care and the extreme financial strain they’ve experienced due to VW’s lower standards.

  • One VW worker in the Battery Department shared that: “My wife is disabled so I am the only one working. She goes to the doctor when she needs to, but I have dental work that I have needed for almost 2 years and have not done due to the expense.”
  • A VW assembly worker reported: “I have had to forgo medical care due to the costs even though I pay for insurance, and I pay over a hundred dollars a month for my prescription.”
  • Another VW assembly worker said: “I went to the ER due to an illness last year—I couldn’t breathe. Bill was way too expensive, and I received 3 to 4 total. It hurt my finances tremendously as I had to figure out how to pay for my other bills that have gone up due to inflation.”
  • “At my last job I had better health care where I only had to pay $25 to see my primary doctor versus now it costs me $75 a visit until I hit my deductible,” said another VW worker. “Then two years ago I had a health scare where I had to go see a hematologist and when I got the bill I had to pay $500 out of pocket because I did not meet my deductible yet – versus at my last job, when I had to see a specialist, it only cost me a dime, and I was working for a much smaller company than Volkswagen.”
  • One VW worker said, “I’ve worked other jobs to make sure I can get my medical bills paid, but not now. Now I barely get my deductible paid and I don’t get to use my insurance because it’s time to start a new year, so I’m paying the deductible every year for my doctors’ visits and paying my monthly insurance for insurance I don’t get to use because of the deductible I have to reach before my insurance will cover anything. I have to have something major come up and pay it off before my insurance starts to cover my bills. It’s ridiculous and not right. I’m used to just paying a co-pay and everything else is covered, but when I started at Volkswagen all that changed and I started paying a lot out of my pocket. Yea I make more money here, but when you add in what I pay in for medical, I make less than I did at my last jobs.”

“Volkswagen should be ashamed that the U.S. workers who have helped build their massive profits are being forced to choose between putting food on the table and having health insurance,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “VW is the #2 automaker in the world, but they aren’t meeting the union auto standards in America – even of smaller and less profitable employers in the same state.  Although VW espouses respect for worker rights, they have egregiously violated federal U.S. labor law with an illegal shift reduction attempt in Chattanooga, where they should be ramping production up, not cutting it down. The CEO of VW got $11 million last year, and their shareholders got billions; now, American workers are demanding the fair standards and excellent health coverage we deserve.”

Volkswagen’s U.S. workforce faces lower health care and workplace safety standards compared to the benefits provided to employees in other countries, effectively creating a second tier of workers in the American South. Survey data reveals that VW’s health plan is so costly and inadequate that more than one in ten workers opt out entirely, with some stating they simply cannot afford it. Many employees also noted that Volkswagen lags behind its competitors in providing quality health care, despite the company’s substantial profits.

“Volkswagen workers should not have to start a GoFundMe in order to pay their medical bills,” said Amanda Muellemann, an assembly worker who could not afford a necessary surgery and had to go to extreme lengths to pay for her care.

In 2024, Volkswagen reported $20.6 billion in profits, bringing their four-year profit total to $92.4 billion — a 38% increase. Despite this, the 4,000 workers who build its vehicles in Chattanooga are still waiting for a fair contract that brings them up to par with industry standards – and are using the fight for the first-ever union contract at a foreign car manufacturer in America as an opportunity to force VW to reinvest in their U.S. workforce.

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“NAFTA Sucks”: In New Video, UAW President Shawn Fain Calls for an End to Broken Trade Deals

DETROIT, MI – In a new video, UAW President Shawn Fain shares his experience as a young electrician in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1992 and how trade policy won his vote in that presidential election.

The new video, “NAFTA Sucks,” is available here, and the media is invited to use the footage.

The lesson for working class politics today is clear: working people need an alternative to the free trade disaster that has wrecked blue collar communities across the country and driven a continental race to the bottom that has hurt American and Mexican autoworkers alike.

The UAW has called for a renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which has not stopped the bleeding of good auto jobs from Michigan to Tennessee and beyond. The Trump Administration’s expected auto tariffs could be a step in the right direction towards ending the free trade disaster inaugurated by NAFTA thirty-three years ago.

Full transcript available below.

NAFTA SUCKS

SHAWN FAIN: In 1992, I was a 22 year old apprentice electrician in Kokomo, Indiana watching the Presidential Debate between George Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot.

During that debate, one candidate won my vote immediately.

They were talking about NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement — which Congress had yet to approve.

ROSS PEROT: “We have got to stop sending jobs overseas. You move your factory south of the border, pay a dollar an hour for your labor, have no healthcare – that’s the most expensive single element of making a car – have no environmental controls, no pollution controls, and no retirement, and you don’t care about anything but making money. There will be a giant sucking sound going south.”

My decision was made in that moment.

I saw the threat in my community. If corporations were allowed to kill good blue collar jobs in the Midwest to pay poverty wages to some poor Mexican worker, they were gonna do it.

And workers on both sides of the border would end up paying the price.

That’s why I voted for Ross Perot.

Let’s look at what has happened since NAFTA passed.

Over 90,000 manufacturing facilities have disappeared in the United States, wrecking communities, ripping families apart, and leaving workers on unemployment or struggling to survive on low-wage jobs.

Every plant closure is a bomb dropped in working class communities.

You can literally see the blast zones in Kokomo, Flint, St Louis, and beyond.

The Big Three automakers alone have closed 65 facilities in the past 22 years.

I would love to say today that things have changed, but as we’re talking right now, more work is being shipped out of the country, and more jobs are being lost or are in jeopardy of being lost.

Stellantis has laid off thousands of workers at Warren Truck while the trucks they use to build are being made in Mexico.

John Deere, Mack Trucks, and many other companies are relocating work to Mexico right now, all in an effort to drive a race to the bottom.

Economists and talking heads want to say that tariffs are bad for the economy.

You know what’s bad for the economy?

Letting corporations ship jobs to other countries where workers make $3 an hour so the company can sell a truck for $100,000 and pocket the savings.

While American workers and Mexican workers scrape to get by.

Tell the workers who used to work at Lordstown, Ohio that our trade system is working.

Tell it to workers at Romeo Engine.

Or Baltimore Transmission.

Or Cleveland Casting.

Or Twin Cities Assembly.

Or Oklahoma City Assembly.

Janesville Assembly.

Wilmington Assembly.

Fredericksburg Powertrain.

Or St. Louis Assembly.

The list goes on and on.

There isn’t a state in this country that hasn’t been devastated by the free trade disaster of the last thirty three years.

The status quo is killing us.

Some economists are trying to scare anyone, saying that the cost of tariffs will be passed on to working Americans.

But the cost of NAFTA was passed on to working Americans in the form of plant closures, deaths of despair, and economic devastation.

We feel its effects every day.

Free trade isn’t free. It’s a disaster. And it’s time to end it.

The experts said NAFTA would help the working class.

They were wrong.

Ross Perot was right.

NAFTA sucks and it’s time to fix our broken trade laws.

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