·  by Kent Holsing, President of USW Local 12075

Local Union 12075 Helps Send Message to Community on TPP

“A rising tide should lift all boats, but shouldn’t sink ours!”

“Free trade for the sake of free trade is a bad trade for America!”

“Selling off America’s future to the highest bidder… is not right. It’s wrong!”

These are the messages that some local Steelworkers are sending to their community regarding the dangers of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Local Union 12075, an amalgamated local of 20 units located in Midland, MI, wanted to share that message beyond its members, reaching thousands and thousands of people in the Great Lakes Bay Area region. The local utilized various forms of media in an innovative approach to reach the masses in an advertising blitz during the month of March.

12075 invested in a three-billboard approach — choosing strategic locations, including the main highways leading into Midland from the east and the west, along with another billboard in the center of town across the highway from the world headquarters of The Dow Chemical Company. Drivers in and around Midland had no choice but to see the messages which publicized the perils of the TPP and directed them to call their Congressional Representatives to tell them, “No to the TPP!”

The local simultaneously created several local radio spots that ran 24/7 on WLUN and ESPN 100.9 FM that educated listeners about the many aspects of the TPP that are wrong for the future of our country and American’s middle class.

The membership of Local Union 12075 recognized the need to educate the community and invested its resources to take that message to the streets and on the airwaves. The fight against the TPP is far from over, but 12075 members are willing to continue whatever effort is necessary to educate and mobilize the community in which they live and work.

For more on our fight for fair trade, click here.

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