Seattle—More than 50 American companies, representing over 1,400 jobs in the U.S., have signed up to join the Alliance for Free Choice and Jobs in 
Flooring (AFCJF) since the group was organized in January 2011, according to Jonathan Train, president of the AFCJF.
Train said over twenty companies signed up on the spot at the 2011 National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) annual meeting and dozens of other companies took membership agreements to send in later.
“Many of our new recruits share our conviction that unless the petitioners are stopped here and now in this case, they will move forward to block other types of flooring – including solids and laminates – and file additional cases to block imports from other international suppliers, with the goal of wiping out their American competitors.” Train also noted that many companies in the entire wood industry are increasingly concerned that the “overly broad scope requested by the petitioners could affect imports of plywood, furniture, and kitchen cabinets.”
The Alliance is opposing a small group of large U.S. flooring manufacturers led by Anderson, Shaw and Mannington who are demanding antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) penalties on imported multilayered flooring that would effectively block imports from China and, as Train says, “cost far more jobs in the U.S. than would be saved in the Petitioner companies.“
“When you add the number of jobs at stake up- and down-stream in hardwood logging exports, U.S. port facilities and allied sectors, that number of jobs at risk is much higher,” Train concluded.
More information regarding this case is available at choiceandjobs.com.