Our Sites

USW celebrates 'Buy American' wins

March 17, the United Steelworkers (USW) celebrated a milestone in its economic renewal campaign—the passage of a "Buy American" resolution in more than 100 states and municipalities across the nation.

A total of approved resolutions have been approved, including the states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Texas. You can track the resolutions on the USW's interactive map on www.usw.org.

USW members have gotten the resolution introduced in nearly 600 states, cities, townships, boroughs, and other local governments since its Make Our Future Work campaign kicked off in January.

"The 'Buy American' resolution ensures our tax dollars are used to create jobs at home. It's smart policy," said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. "In order to pull our country and the world out of this economic mess, we have to refocus the American economy on manufacturing. This will rebuild the middle class and our nation."

The resolution, which can be found at www.usw.org/buyamerican, calls on local and state governments to:

  • Maximize the creation of American jobs and restore economic growth and opportunity by spending economic recovery plan funds on products and services that both create jobs and help keep Americans employed.
  • Commit to purchasing only products and services that are made or performed in the United States of America whenever and wherever possible with any economic recovery monies provided by the American people.
  • Commit to publish any requests to waive these procurement priorities so as to give American workers and producers the opportunity to identify and provide the American products and services that will maximize the success of our nation's economic recovery program.