Chlorine Chemistry: Good Jobs Across the Nation

ARCC unions, companies cite employment, technology, industry records

Since the 1980s, the U.S. chemical industry has bucked an adverse trend in U.S. manufacturing and employment. While America has suffered huge job losses in the steel, auto, electronics and textile industries, our chemical industry is still the global leader.

U.S. chemical industries employ over one million workers — down about five percent from the peak employment year of 1981. According to the Commerce Department's Office of Technology Policy (OTP), over half of chemical employees are production workers. Employees earn an average of $16.22 an hour, compared to the overall manufacturing wage of $12.70. The industry has the third-lowest injury and illness rate of all U.S. industries.

Frank Martino, President of the International Chemical Workers Union, said, "America's chemical workers have met the challenges of mastering new technology, increasing productivity and instituting better environmental practices. We are committed to keeping good chlorine chemistry jobs here."

"When you consider that chlorine chemistry supports 60 percent of U.S. chemical output and that U.S. plants supply about 24 percent of global chemical production, you grasp the fundamental importance of this chemistry and this industry,"said ARCC Co-Chairman J. Roger Hirl, President and CEO of Occidental Chemical Corporation.

"American workers need these good jobs," said ARCC Co-Chairman Wayne E. Glenn, President of the United Paperworkers International Union. "At the same time, companies need to keep increasing their investment in environmental protection and R & D."

OTP reports that the chemical industry leads the U.S. in research and development spending ($18 billion in 1995), and was third in plant and equipment investment among all U.S. industries. U.S. chemical companies are now the number-one investors in environmental protection technology — spending over $4 billion in 1995 alone.