Contact Your Elected Officials

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

As a member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), a national organization of approximately 1.7 million Latino trade unionists throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, I am writing to express my great concern regarding proposed increases to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

LCLAA supports policies that promote growth in the job sector, energy diversity and advanced technologies. We believe U.S. energy and environmental policy can be an engine of economic growth and opportunity by advancing the development and implementation of alternative automotive technologies and biofuels, while addressing the huge competitive disparities against U.S. automakers - an unintended consequence of CAFE.

Nearly 100,000 Latinos are employed within the core of the U.S. auto manufacturing industry, an industry responsible for 13.3 million jobs nationwide. Moreover, for every worker directly employed by an automaker, more than 10 spin-off jobs are created. It is imperative that Congress takes into consideration the negative impact radical changes to CAFE will have on the significant number of Latino workers and their families.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates the proposed changes to CAFE would add $3,000 to $5,000 to the price of an American vehicle - limiting consumer choice for all Americans, including Latino trade unionists in the United States and Puerto Rico.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has analyzed such a price increase and demonstrated it would cost the jobs of 17,000 auto-workers and 50,000 auto-parts workers as currently written. LCLAA cannot support a policy that would eliminate more than 65,000 jobs.

Instead, the Congress has the opportunity to create a larger policy framework that creates more and better jobs and includes those in the emerging "green collar" sector - manufacturing jobs with environmental and alternative energy implications such as production of cars that run on electricity, hydrogen and alternative fuel sources like E85 and cellulosic ethanol.

Today, alternative fuel technology is within consumers' reach, a very exciting development for LCLAA and its members. LCLAA applauds the auto industry's 2004, $15.6 billion dollar investment in research and development, which has directly contributed to the current availability of 60 models of alternative fuel vehicles, up from only 12 in the year 2000.

LCLAA supports policies that encourage automakers to continue the development of alternative fuel enabling technologies. Rather than make a shortsighted attempt at fuel efficiency reform, policy makers should look toward the alternative fuels that could drive the rest of America into a renewable, environmentally harmonious future.

In light of the serious concerns, I urge you to do everything possible to prevent drastic changes to CAFE from passing and harming the hardworking men and women that LCLAA represents.