US Sen. Sherrod Brown re-introduces Outsourcing Accountability Act

WARREN — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown came to the United Steel Workers union hall on North Park Avenue this morning to discuss his re-introduced legislation called the Outsourcing Accountability Act to require companies once each year to report the specific locations of their workers.

Currently companies only have to report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission how many employees they have.

"So if a company shuts down with 700 workers in the Mahoning Valley and moves overseas and hires 1,000, all they file is they gained 300 jobs. They don't tell you they lost 700 here and gained 1,000 there."

Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, said this information "helps the union in a union plant in negotiations. It helps the community figure out what to do and it shines a spotlight on a company that that company might just behave a little better if the public knew where their jobs were moved to."

Rich Sayers, president of USW Local 1375, also spoke, saying the Youngstown-Warren area has been devastated by years of outsourcing, unfair trade and foreign government subsidies, cheap products and materials.

"Without good-paying manufacturing jobs, there is no middle class, and without no middle class, there is no hope for the American Dream," Sayers said.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com