FMR Organizing Committee Presentations
FMR Committee Meeting 5.28.2024
Artificial Intelligence: Threat, Opportunity or Both—A Discussion We don’t need to fear AI. We need to be ready to define how it is used for our benefit. This is what we mean by Inclusion & Industry 4.0—our industrial policy.
Speakers:
- David Robinson, Manufacturing Renaissance
- Drew Crowe, the New American Manufacturing Renaissance
- Mike Moriarty, the Chicago Teachers Union
FMR Committee Meeting 4.30.2024
Presenter: Alan Minsky, Executive Director for Progressive Democrats of America, to share national campaign and federal legislative strategy for industrial policy. With FMR’s American Manufacturing Renaissance Act and the upcoming DNC, capturing the manufacturing momentum now will be crucial to raising the need for inclusive industrial labor workforce policies to take shape across all regions. He also highlight’s his recent article concerning the cease-fire protest from The Hill.
FMR Committee Meeting 3.5.2024
Presenter: Drew Crowe – The Federation for a Manufacturing Renaissance welcomes Drew Crowe of New American Manufacturing Renaissance. Drew strives to ignite and energize American manufacturing by exposing youth, community, political leaders, and underserved communities to inclusive manufacturing policy. His mission is to ensure that we put our best innovators, creators, and thinkers in spaces where they can thrive and grow. Watch this video to learn more about Drew Crowe!
We are very proud to have Drew join FMR’s Executive Committee to bolster our outreach efforts to advocate for the American Manufacturing Renaissance Act and grow our membership base.
FMR Committee Meeting 2.6.2024
Presenter: Robert Kuttner, the co-editor of The American Prospect-(https://prospect.org/)—the leading progressive journal in the country.
Robert speaks to the recent effort by Nippon Steel to purchase US Steel and its implications for the country, the industry, our communities, and the Biden administration.
The sale of US Steel is a big issue and could be an opportunity for the Federation to:
- Engage in a campaign that reflects our industrial policy to retain and rebuild our manufacturing sector—not let it go.
- Create alliances with communities that have US Steel facilities. US Steel employs 22,000 people in the US and facilities in Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Alabama, Illinois, Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and California.
- In particular, US Steel in Gary Indiana, has 4,000 employees. Our Federation has members who are developing a campaign to rebuild manufacturing in Gary.
- Support and engage the United Steelworkers Union that is opposing the sale; and,
- If there is a sale of the company, it creates the opportunity to assert community interests in the future of the company.
The Weak Link in Industrial Policy: Corporate Patriotism as background. https://prospect.org/economy/2024-01-23-weak-link-industrial-policy-corporate-patriotism/
FMR Committee Meeting 1.23.2024
Chris Mackin of Ownership Associates and a leader in the world of ESOPs, cooperatives, and other forms of economic democracy. He led a class on Economic Democracy at the Harvard Trade Union Program and has led a number of important initiatives over the last few decades. Chris has been a leader in developing and promoting the Employee Equity Investment Act that is currently in Congress with the support of Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.
The EEIA is a very important addition to the world of ESOPs in that it will provide loan guarantees to back worker equity in firms with ESOP among other things. It is completely consistent with the values of our bill—the American Manufacturing Renaissance Act. Chris and his team have secured bi-partisan support for the bill in the House and Senate as well as building a base of support among the various organizations focused on ESOPs—an important sector for the Federation.
Learn More About The Federation For Manufacturing Renaissance
A nationwide Federation for a Manufacturing Renaissance has been formed with five foundational pillars:
- Shape industrial policy on a national, state, and local level in a way that is profoundly inclusive and anchored in economic democracy, and that is committed to community development. Our policy will reflect “best practices” in domestic and global experience.
- Support the growth and development of projects in local communities that retain and strengthen local manufacturing ecosystems.
- Create a community that learns from and utilizes the talents of its member organizations.
- Educate the broader public as well as policy leaders on the importance of industrial policy and re-building our manufacturing ecosystem.
- Create an international membership that builds strong relationships with projects representing best international practices related to building the global manufacturing ecosystem.
The Federation for a Manufacturing Renaissance (FMR) is committed to development that is economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable and restorative. We believe that a “high road,” inclusive manufacturing ecosystem is fundamental for healthy individuals, families, and communities. Toward this end, we:
- Build partnerships with those who share our values,
- Develop and advocate federal, state and local public policies consistent with our mission, and
- Support the development of programs reflecting this vision on a local and regional level.
A number of organizations have formed the Federation for a Manufacturing Renaissance. The purpose of the Federation is to:
- Educate the broader public as well as policy leaders on the importance of industrial policy and re-building our manufacturing ecosystem.
- Shape industrial policy on a national, state, and local level in a way that is profoundly inclusive and anchored in economic democracy, and that is committed to community development. Our policy will reflect best international experience.
- Support the growth and development of projects in local communities that retain and strengthen local manufacturing ecosystems;
- Create a community that learns from and utilizes the talents of its member organizations; and
- Create an international membership that builds strong relationships with projects representing best international practices related to building the global manufacturing ecosystem.
The public sector including government at all levels, and civil society as represented by the labor movement, community-based organizations, educators, faith-based organizations, the environmental movement and others must play a leading role in retaining, redesigning, and rebuilding our manufacturing sector in partnership with the private sector. Programs focused on inclusion must have the same level of political and financial support as programs focused on new technologies in manufacturing. This ensures that the values of sustainability, justice and restoration guide development and provide public support for building the manufacturing ecosystem.
The United States has experienced a long-term decline in its manufacturing sector with an enormous social, economic, and political impact over the last 50 years. The loss has severely impacted communities throughout the country—urban and rural, white and of color. For the last hundred years, industrial policy has mainly been guided by the private and financial sectors driven by the objective of increasing personal wealth. Manufacturers revolutionized the means of production. They were committed to long-term planning. US manufacturing was known for its innovation. Despite a number of inequities, this industrial policy led to the growth of the middle class and the emergence of the US as the dominant global economy.
By the late 1970s and the emergence of new information technologies, the search for the highest rate of return in the shortest amount of time led to some leaders in the manufacturing and financial sector cannibalizing the very companies that were the heart of the manufacturing sector. Companies closed as investors shifted their financial resources to other sectors. David Roderick, CEO of US Steel closed one of the most profitable steel companies in the world, stating, “I’m in this business to make money, not steel.” Local and state governments were often complicit or passive in engaging the challenges of the manufacturing sector.
In the 1960s, the sector represented more than 27% of GDP. As a result of these practices, manufacturing now represents only 11% of GDP. The country and our communities have suffered in every respect. This reality was a product of industrial policies rather than a “blind market”.
We have launched the Federation for a Manufacturing Renaissance to represent the broad and shared interests of the public and private sectors committed to retaining, redesigning, and rebuilding our manufacturing sector. We are committed to manufacturing, economic democracy, and community development.