Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Fighting to Preserve Our Domestic Tire Industry

For generations, tire plants have provided good, family-supporting jobs, and helped build strong communities across our country. But those jobs, our members’ jobs, are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Domestic tire production has declined roughly 40 percent since 2000, while imports have taken an increasing share of the U.S. market. In just the past two years, announced plant closures and job cuts have cost, or will cost, more than 6,000 USW members their jobs. Behind those numbers are our union brothers and sisters, their families and communities that have depended on these plants for generations.

We aren't willing to stand by and watch it continue.

The USW has a long history of fighting unfair trade and working to level the playing field for our members. We've successfully fought surging tire imports before, and now we're taking the next step.

Yesterday, our union sent a letter calling on U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer to launch a Section 201 investigation into tire imports. A Section 201 investigation would take a hard look at the surge of imported tires and the damage it is doing to U.S. production and workers. It can lead to temporary trade relief, including measures to limit imports, giving the domestic industry an opportunity to stabilize, rebuild and grow.

Now we need your help.

We're asking Steelworkers to sign our petition calling on USTR to act quickly to protect the tire industry, preserve the good jobs that remain and create the opportunity to grow domestic production again.

Our members have worked hard, bargained hard, and done their part to keep these facilities operating. But we cannot bargain our way out of a flood of imports on our own.

These jobs are worth fighting for. Our communities are worth fighting for. And our union has never been afraid of a fight when our members' livelihoods are on the line