Man of (Overpriced) Steel
Cash tolls at the Verrazano Bridge hit a whopping $15 last March. Apparently, that’s not high enough for Chuck Schumer.
Schumer may have nothing against motorists or taxpayers and would likely deny he wants to raise their expenses. But that would be the undeniable consequence if he succeeds in his shilling for steel unions.
In a letter sent last week to MTA chief Tom Prendergast, Schumer says China’s state subsidies, looser regulations and cheap currency give its steel companies “a significant competitive advantage.” For that reason, the MTA should “do everything in its power to avoid purchasing from these companies.”
China does indeed subsidize some of its industries, including steel, with its policies. But it’s not the MTA’s mission to create employment for American workers. The MTA’s job is to keep New York’s transportation system in good repair at good value for the people who pay for it: the taxpayers. And if China’s lighter regulatory hand gives its companies a competitive edge in this global economy, maybe Schumer should be looking to lower our regulatory burden.
The math is telling. According to the authority, going with US steel firms instead of the lower-priced Chinese would see the $34 million price tag expand fourfold — to $134 million. That’s a lot to ask of already beleaguered motorists and taxpayers.
Even worse, because US companies aren’t prepared to start work immediately, the MTA says, the bridge project would have to be delayed.
Clearly, the agency wants to promote US jobs if it can; it’s been working with industry officials to that end. That’s great: the more suppliers, the better. And if Americans can do the job as well as the Chinese, and for the same price or less, better still.
Meanwhile, it would be nice to see Schumer looking out for all his constituents in New York instead of limiting his advocacy to the special-interest labor big shots — who have no qualms about, uh, steeling taxpayer dollars.
When the Golden Gate Bridge in California was being refurbished, the first thing that was noticed, was how easily the treads on the steel pieces from China would strip. The Verrazano Bridge project has two choices. Either use quality steel from American foundries, or take a chance by cutting corners and using inferior steel from China…..and finding that the loss of life and the continuous failure will be repeated over and over again…..until the New York Authority finally succumbs to public demand and replaces every cheap piece of Chinese steel……with good ol’ American quality!!!!
What is interesting in this article is that they state Union Labor concerning the fabrication of the structure. It would appear that the article was not written by someone with an understanding of the actual work as most bridges are fabricated in Non-Union facilities and/or facilities with a shop workers contract which is typically paid at a lower rate than Union work in the field.
While one can google the San Francisco Bay Bridge and realize that China has provided a good bit of work, that has also been with some hurdles. The Alexander Hamilton in NYC is another example that while the AH also has some global outsourcing, it too came with some hurdles.
The subcontract of the fabrication will not eliminate the Union Labor that will do the installation, and I do not feel that this article adequately conveys that message. The work in and around NYC is typically performed by the Unions that govern that scope of work.
The only savings will be on the fabrication and we have the potential for issues to come out of that fabrication due to a multitude of items which include but are not limited to a conveyance of the quality requirements as well as fabrication practices. I do not wish to attempt to state that all Chinese products are inferior because that simply would not be true but when it comes to the construction of our infrastructure, it should be done on US soil, by US taxpayers. While I realize that the daily users pay the tolls, if we do not support each other to maintain actual employment in the US, none of us will have a job to go to.
I am not advocating Union Labor, I am simply stating that the additional costs that the Domestic fabricator has placed on them to build a structure (Federal, State, Local) can all be skirted in global outsourcing. The fabricator nor the employee are raking in this huge cash windfall, these are simply expenses that are passed through the businesses in the US to maintain our roads, electricity, water, etc…so with that said, how will we expect to pick the fruit of the Domestic fabricator if we have not watered it properly.
My thoughts are free, take them for what they are worth but this article came with a slant that did not truly cover the full implications of outsourcing this scope of work. We are not dealing with a plastic toy at the .99 cent store, this is a huge multi-million dollar contract with additional potentials after installation.
I am sure there will be adequate Quality Assurance on the fabrication of the items, but when it comes to the probability of detection, humans are not perfect, they are going to miss things and that is where the potential for things to go horribly wrong.
I hope I am wrong on this one but I personally do not expect to see a huge savings once the full story is told on this project.
I mean no disrespect to anyone, just providing a different set of eyes.