Show a steel will and team spirit

Unlike in America, the steel Industry here has been off the Federal Government's radar.

On the eve of an urgent summit to develop a strategy to deal with the United States decision to impose tariffs of up to 30 per cent on many categories of steel imports, one thing is clear - our nation's steel industry stakeholders must work together to develop a survival plan for the industry.

Unfortunately, when steel industry leaders, employers and politicians meet in Canberra tomorrow to talk about the future of our $450 million export industry their insights can only paint half the picture.

That's because the Federal Government has excluded the people who know the industry at the coalface - the workers, their unions and their communities such as Wollongong, Newcastle, Whyalla and Hastings.

It's a bizarre move to exclude unions when you consider that any number of the recommendations that come out of tomorrow's meeting cannot be advanced without the support and cooperation of the industry's vast workforce. Our members also have a legitimate right to be involved considering that they will be the first affected if there is any job losses arising out of the three-year US import tariff that comes into effect on Wednesday.

As a union that represents more than 10,000 steelworkers at Onesteel, BHP and Smorgon Steel, the Australian Workers' Union can offer valuable insights into how we can preserve jobs and keep our industry profitable through our partnership with industry. Our views are based on our members' experience, our strong ties with the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) representing 625,000 members, and the International Metalworkers Federation, which represents 4.8 million metalworkers in 101 countries.

A major difference between the Australian and US Governments is that the Bush Administration has a dialogue with the steel unions. While some may view the Bush decision as a self-interested move in a congressional election year, the fact remains that the American steel industry and tens of thousands of workers have suffered because of the prolonged dumping of cheap imports. Our America counterparts, the United Steelworkers of America, had warned the Bush Administration that a global oversupply of steel caused by the increased steel production of former Soviet nations in the past decade and the loss of alternative markets caused by the 1997 Asian economic crisis, was harming local industry.

In the past four years more than 30,000 American steel workers had lost their jobs, 31 companies have been driven to bankruptcy, 17 have closed and steel prices had hit a 20-year low. To add to this the health care benefits of 600,000 American steelworker retirees and their spouses have been wiped out, or are at risk, because of company shutdowns.

While the AWU does not support tariff protectionism, we do not blame our US counterparts for standing up for their members' livelihoods by lobbying their government for protection from imports. What we do lament is that the Australian steel industry has not been on our Federal Government's radar until it is too late. In the Howard Government's recent white paper on free trade, there is no mention of steel.

As investment banker and former Opposition leader John Hewson observed on this page recently, Australia is failing to have an impact in Washington. I believe Mr Hewson was correct when he stated that, "we have consistently failed to win enough congressional support to protect our national interests on a host of issues.'' The AWU supports his call for a rethink of our diplomatic presence in the US.

An obvious starting point is for the Howard Government to draw on Australian unions' relationships with US and international unions. The AWU has ongoing talks with the USWA and I know they are not unsympathetic to our position. The USWA is a powerful lobbyist and was influential in persuading President Bush to exempt Canada from the 30 per cent tariff.

While the intervention of US ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer was very helpful and resulted in an understanding between the US and Australia that hot rolled coil and slab steel will be exempted from the tariffs, there is still more to be done. More than $70 million in coated products will still be hit by the tariff.

The Federal Government's consideration to join the European Union and other countries in taking the US to the World Trade Organisation is a slow process with no guarantee of a remedy. In the meantime Australia is vulnerable to receiving more dumped imports from nations that had previously targeted the US making it more difficult for Australian companies to compete.

The AWU believes the future of our industry is dependent on tougher anti-dumping laws and clear, stringent local content requirements on major infrastructure projects. At present the WTO anti-dumping agreement allows governments to act against dumped imports where there is material injury to the competing domestic industry. One of the problems in Australia is that the process is too slow, it can take up to 155 days for the Customs investigation and subsequent report to go to the responsible Minister, and there are no immediate measures that can be imposed to deter exporters from dumping their steel products. We need to move away from a system where the transgressors are not punished until the victim is dead. We must speed up the process and have better deterrents so that Australia is not viewed as a contender for dumping subsidized product.

Our second proposal is to provide better local content controls. We are not asking that Australian industry get a free kick, only that the Australian Government ought to specify a preference for the majority of local work to use local products unless there is a good reason not to. Australian steel manufacturing is highly efficient and would in most cases be able to supply the best product at the best price if it is given the chance.

The challenge for the Howard Government today is to put political prejudice to one side and bring all our stakeholders together to develop a survival strategy for this very important Australian industry.