Advocates of U.S. Manufacturing Prepare Pre-Election Tour
Unemployment and the state of American manufacturing will be hot topics during November’s elections.
Preparing for the elections, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a nonpartisan, nonprofit trade group, is launching its “Keep it Made in America” tour, a series of town hall meetings in 10 states where local business, labor and civic leaders will help voters question candidates on issues, particularly the state of manufacturing jobs in the United States.
The 12-city tour begins Oct. 12 in Hartford, Conn., and ends Oct. 29 in Wausau, Wis., just days before the nation's midterm elections.
“A majority of likely voters say the U.S. no longer has the world’s strongest economy and that Washington isn’t doing enough to rebuild manufacturing,” said the group’s director, Scott Paul, in a statement. “People are greatly concerned about our lost standing. They know China is overtaking us, and they want the United States to be number one again.
“We are providing voters with a chance to ask their candidates directly, ‘What are you going to do about restoring manufacturing and the millions of jobs we've lost to China ?’ We’ve invited the candidates. Let's see if they’ll face the voters,” Paul said.
In each of the 12 cities, the group has scheduled a panel of local leaders and invited federal and statewide elected officials and candidates to discuss job creation, manufacturing’s importance in economic recovery and “leveling the playing field for American workers and businesses in the global marketplace.”
Here’s a list of the cities on the tour (with local times of meetings):
- Oct. 12: Hartford, Conn., 6 p.m.
- Oct. 13: Jackson, Mich., 5:30 p.m.
- Oct. 14: Lorain, Ohio, 5 p.m.
- Oct. 15: Wheeling, W.Va., 5 p.m.
- Oct. 18: Erie, Pa., 5:30 p.m.
- Oct. 19: Canton, Ohio, 5 p.m.
- Oct. 20: Wayne, Pa., 6 p.m.
- Oct. 20: Merrillville, Ind., 5 p.m.
- Oct. 21: Asheville, N.C., 5 p.m.
- Oct. 27: St. Louis, 5 p.m.
- Oct. 28: Concord, N.H., 6 p.m.
- Oct. 29: Wausau, Wis., 5 p.m.
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