The beginning of a turnaround?

[Former_Member]

OK, it's not directly related to CPSIA--but is it a sign that the gov't is getting tough on Chinese imports? This may be good news for us.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/bus?guid=20090911/4aa9d950_3421_13345200909111967478393

[McCoyToys]

Interesting, heard that today on the news...not sure how this will play out....but hopefully it will help the US commerce and not bite us in the butt.

[SewFunDollClothes]

RuthsCreations, I saw this on the news too and had a thought similar to yours. Keeping my fingers crossed that Congress and/or the Prez will some day start listening to all of us when we write them to say the CPSIA laws will put American crafters out of business while giving Chinese imports a huge advantage ....

[Former_Member]

I wish they would not allow any American company that went to China to make goods there and ship/sell them back to Americans.America is hurting for jobs and they want Chinese people to make them cheaply.Yeah,its cheap alright.

[Former_Member]

This is no turn around. Big lobbies get things done in Washington - just like the Toy Lobby got CPSIA passed and put all the little guys out of business. (If you don't believe this ask yourself why Mattel - the biggest offender of lead in toys - has now been exempted from Third Party Independent Testing.)

[Former_Member]

definitely marking this!

[Former_Member]

hmm. It sounds like the tariffs have nothing to do with safety issues, it's an artificial inflation of import prices to keep domestic product competitive.

I don't know how much relevance this has for independent crafters. Even though there are some Chinese (or other foreign mass-produced) products that compete in the categories found here on Etsy, I think this type of tariff will really only work on products that people really have no choice but to buy. (If you need your car to run, you need tires.) But when the prices of non-essential goods are inflated, people just stop buying them.
The companies that make their tires here might be happy (perhaps more importantly for Obama the unions will be happy) but what it means to the end consumer is- there won't be any lower-priced options anymore when you're tire shopping. It punishes the country of origin; it also punishes the American consumer.

One thing that's interesting though, is the (probably true) assumption that the President accepted the ruling in order to "placate union supporters important to his health care push". If American crafters were lobbying as loudly as the steel & automotive unions are, we would definitely be given more attention.

Does anybody know if there are unions, organizations or other collective bargaining tools for independent craftspeople?

[SpiffyDoodleDandy]

I agree that this has little to do with safety, although given the recent track record of Chinese products (tainted dog food, lead in children's products, etc...), it's probably not a bad idea to start taking a closer look at what we import from over there. I do find it amusing though that the article says China has spoken out against countries who enact legislation to protect their industries, when the Chinese government was accused last year of price fixing practices to bolster their pharmaceutical industry.

@amyblandford: I know we have the Handmade Toy Alliance, but I'm not sure that they're anywhere near the size of the automotive unions. They're also rather specific to toy makers, but it's a start:

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

If we had a good-sized artisan's union I think we'd do well to organize a discount-rate group health insurance plan, since so many of us work for ourselves. *sigh* I guess I can dream...