Georgetown workers hear Gephardt's labor promises, Edwards shares his in Spartanburg
BY SCHUYLER KROPF
Of The Post and Courier Staff
GEORGETOWN--The plight of South Carolina's wounded mill towns -- textiles in the hills and steel on the coast -- was front and center Wednesday as two candidates in the Feb. 3 primary promised job protection for dwindling industries.
But it was U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina who drew a spotlight Wednesday as he said he was morally obligated to back Gephardt after 11 years of friendship and favors in Washington.
"I would be a real S.O.B. if I were to ignore all the positive impact that Dick Gephardt has had on my congressional district and South Carolina," Clyburn said, adding "I've got to get people to understand where his heart is."
The Feb. 3 primary is less than four weeks away, but the race is still wide open in South Carolina. Edwards is at or near the top in most polls, while Gephardt is lagging, although he was endorsed by the United Steel Workers of America.
In Georgetown, Gephardt, an opponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, continued his promise to amend America's trade agreements by forcing underdeveloped trade partners to enact reforms such as a local minimum wage, environmental protections and rights to organize. Only then will the production price of world goods become fairer to U.S. workers, he said.
Hundreds of workers from Georgetown Steel "have been sacrificed on an altar of free trade," he told a crowd of about 150.
Edwards said he, too, would fight for fair trade and ways to help regain the tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs lost in South Carolina since George W. Bush has been in office.
"And President Bush by the way, the best I can tell, has no plan at all, no plan at all for the thousands of families who have lost their jobs," Edwards told more than 100 supporters.
He outlined plans to overhaul U.S. trade policies by extending some or all existing textile quotas until China lives up to its trade commitments. He said he opposes expanding NAFTA to Central America.
Back in Georgetown, Gephardt supporters said their candidate has a chance to leap ahead if the collapse of left-leaning front-runner Howard Dean materializes.
"As soon as Dean finishes committing suicide, we'll be No. 1," said former state Sen. Herb Fielding of Charleston.
The state has lost thousands of jobs in the economic downturn of the past three years. The slump hit hard in Georgetown, where as many as 550 steelworkers were let go when the plant closed in the fall largely because of foreign competition.
The role the steelworker endorsement will play in the primary is unclear. The number of South Carolina workers in labor unions is difficult to determine, but officials estimate it runs at 4.9 percent or more of the state's work force, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's about 81,000 people in a range of professions, from assembly-line workers to teamsters, letter carriers and transit workers.
Ed Mills, an electrician who lost his job when the Georgetown plant closed, said there is a degree of pressure from the union headquarters for the membership to back Gephardt, but he also likes what he's heard so far.
"Hopefully he'll put in an extra effort to get jobs moving because when a man doesn't have a job, he gets angry," Mills said.
Gephardt predicted the state's primary will be a showcase.
"South Carolina is going to be in a pivotal spot Feb. 3," Gephardt said. "The whole country is going to be looking at South Carolina."
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