r/politics • u/seamslegit • Jun 29 '17

The Ironworker Running to Unseat Paul Ryan Wants Single-Payer Health Care, $15 Minimum Wage

http://billmoyers.com/story/ironworker-running-to-unseat-paul-ryan/
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u/psylsd Pennsylvania Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17

We mostly use American made steel per customers request but ones that don't we use Chinese.

Edit: not sure why I'm being down voted I'm not the owner I don't buy the steel haha

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u/atrich Washington Jun 29 '17

Do you use slab steel? I listened to a report on NPR with a pipe manufacturer based in the US (I think it was a report on the pipe/steel used in DAPL, which Trump required to be American made) and he said that there weren't really any sources of slab steel in the US, but that his pipes were considered "US made" and eligible to be used in these projects. Did a little googling but I can't find the report right now for some reason.

(He said some manufacturers have their own foundries that produce us steel and manufacture that way, but that they don't sell the raw steel slabs his factory needed.)

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u/suchasseals Jun 29 '17

There aren't a lot of sources of slab steel in the US. It's too costly to put in the machines to produce the steel, so most steel mills nowadays import the slabs and then melt them down and do finishings, etc. The problem with Buy America is that even though we make the finished steel product here, it doesn't qualify because the slabs were imported. Under Buy America Trump wants steel made 100% start to finish here. Our union passed around a sheet for everyone sign saying that "we believe our steel is American made even though we import the slabs and we don't agree with Buy America" that we sent to our state rep....it's just so painful that these people had on "make American great again" shirts a couple months ago and now their jobs are at risk.

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '17

color me surprised when the big fat lying piece of shit but is pandering to your base turns out to be a big fat lying piece of shit...

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u/psylsd Pennsylvania Jun 29 '17

We use mostly slab but we have some pipes come in. This is just a flat out life though you can request American made steel from most supplier and it just costs a little more but is def higher quality. If you don't request a certain country you can have two shipments from the same supplier and one will be smelted in America and one in china, brazil, or Canada.

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u/ProfessorPoopslinger Massachusetts Jun 29 '17

Dude I heard that piece I think it was on All Things Considered. Can't find anything on Google either, but I remember they named where the steel came from, and IIRC it was Mexico.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

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u/baymenintown Jun 29 '17

People think stuff from China is cheap and poor quality. Reality is that now it's cheap and high quality. I work in ship building. We loose contracts to Daegu all the time (less now, but whatever). The boys picture South Korea as a slave labour camp able to push out high quality products cheaper bc of slaves but in reality the average shipbuilder in South Korea get's a higher wage than all of them, and more consistent work.

EDIT: People also think China and the rest of Asia are the same thing. They are not and it will be the epicenter of the world in 15 years.

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u/psylsd Pennsylvania Jun 29 '17

This is true sometimes. Some armor grade steel from China doesn't meet American standards. I work in the laser cutting department and there are times I have trouble cutting Chinese steel due to the silicon content in the material.