By Jim Chesnutt
Everyone knows that the past couple of years have been very tough for the U.S. textile industry, as well as the rest of U.S. manufacturing.
We have lost one-quarter of our entire textile work force since President Bush took office three years ago, and overall our country has lost almost 3 million jobs throughout all of manufacturing.
Since January of 2001, that comes out to one U.S. textile job has been lost forever every nine minutes - and one manufacturing job that has completely disappeared every 30 seconds.
At this point, if one thing is perfectly clear, it is that as far as our country's manufacturing and trade policy goes, we need a change in Washington and we need it fast. And if the unity that I have seen in the textile industry, including our workers and our suppliers in the cotton, wool and manmade fiber sectors is any measure, we can get it. But we've got to stay focused and fight for it.
Textile and apparel quotas on Chinese imports are scheduled to disappear next January 1. If that is not stopped one way or another, January 1 is going to be the biggest disaster to hit this industry in its 214-year history. It's going to make the last several years - terrible as they were - look like "the good old days."
And not just for us. The World Bank estimates that, once these quotas go away next January, China is going to put 30 million textile and apparel workers around the world out of work.
In the United States, our own estimates are that China will take between 60 and 70 percent of the U.S. market, and 650,000 of our textile and apparel workers will lose their jobs. 1,300 textile plants in this country will close.
That means virtually everyone reading this newspaper will be out of a job within the next couple of years if they don't stand up and fight.
It was once said that, "When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
Well, the good news is that this government's trade policy is about to hang this industry and this industry's mind is now wonderfully united and concentrated to stop it. 2004 is going to be the most political year in this industry's history. It is our make or break year and you are going to see us in action like we have never been in action before.
Last year, this industry came together in a way that it had not in a long, long time. Because we worked together - all of us, all the textile folks, the yarn spinners, the cotton growers, the wool growers, the manmade fiber folks, textile machinery makers - we were able to get 170 members of Congress to back us up on the need for specific action against Chinese imports. And this helped us get all three of our safeguard petitions on China approved by the administration.
And, perhaps most importantly, that has set us up to make this election year the one that counts for the industry.
We are committed to mobilizing this industry. And we are going to be telling our workers two very simple things - be sure you vote on November 2nd and be careful who you vote for - you could very well be voting yourself out of a job.
We will make sure that every single textile worker in this country knows which candidate will work to save their job and which will continue to vote them away.
Our first question to the politicians is simple: Will you work to make sure that quotas are maintained on China until China plays by the rules? Simple question, simple answer. If the answer is "no," then we'll fight for someone else.
A few thousand votes made all the difference in 2000. Half a million textile votes may make the difference in 2004.
In the end, whether we are Republican, Independent or Democrat - if our jobs are in danger we will have to oppose those who would let our jobs go overseas. It's that simple.
So if you are in the textile industry today, get ready. This is going to be a busy year. This industry will be coming to you and asking you to get political and to stay political - there can be no letting up. As I said it's for a good cause - your job.
Jim Chesnutt is chairman of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute and president and CEO of National Spinning Co., Washington, DC.
