I’ve just returned from the PMA/NTMA Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. Often we feel we are wasting our time, but this is an exciting year to be in D.C. Here are some of the highlights.
We held a Government Affairs Team meeting on Tuesday morning, just before the Legislative Conference began. Tuesday-afternoon speakers included Elizabeth Williamson from the Wall Street Journal, and Congressman Erik Paulsen from Minnesota. Ms. Williamson reviewed the changes in Washington resulting from the election last November, telling us that while there won’t be a lot of action over the next two years, there will be a lot of discussion about regulations and their effects on business growth, trade initiatives, tax overhaul and the budget/deficit. Congressman Paulsen is very excited about the changes in Washington and assured us that, at least for now, we’ve seen the end of backroom deals. That evening we heard from Congressman Billy Long, a freshman from Missouri. Long is quite a character, coming from a career as an auctioneer, and he understands that a big part of his job is to work at reducing the deficit and the size of government.
Wednesday was our Lobbying Day. I was part of a group of two representing New York and New Jersey – myself and Ted Toth, an NTMA member from southern Jersey. We met with:
- Congresswoman Nan Hayworth, District 19, New York. She’s my new Congresswoman, a welcome change from John Hall. She visited our plant just before the election and promises to come back often. She’s a very smart woman who understands our issues. Since one of our main problems is attracting young people into manufacturing jobs, she’s thinking of hosting a Tech Conference in our district.
- Kalina Bakalov, Legislative Assistant to Congressman Steve Rothman, 9th District, New Jersey. If our members in his district call his Hackensack office, we might be able to convince him to also host a Tech Conference. The idea is to have the Congressman invite manufacturers, educators and potential employees to talk about the opportunities in manufacturing.
- Mike Derzko, Legislative Correspondent to Senator Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey. Lautenberg’s been around a long time and generally doesn’t see eye to eye with us on our issues. But jobs are a hot topic right now, so we asked Mike to have the Senator remind folks in New Jersey that there are great career opportunities in manufacturing. Maybe parents and teachers will start listening if they hear it from their elected officials.
- Caleb Overdorff, Legislative Director for Congressman Frank LoBiondo, 2nd District, New Jersey. Again, we asked for help with public relations. It may not seem like a lot, but the jobs message is resonating in D.C.
- Drew Wayne, Legislative Correspondent for Congressman Tom Reed, 29th District, NY. Reed is another freshman, so we acquainted his staff with our issues. He’s upstate where we don’t have many members, but he should generally support our issues.
- Congressman Leonard Lance, 7th District, New Jersey. This was the first time we’ve met the Congressman, so we introduced ourselves and our industry, and reviewed our issues.
At every turn, we talked about the need to find skilled workers to replace those that will be retiring over the next decade. Everyone seems to understand that manufacturing is critical to our economy, and they don’t want to see us all disappear for lack of employees, especially with the unemployment rate around 9 percent. We also educated members of Congress about Sub S corps and LLCs, and the potential effect of major tax reform on our ability to grow. Other issues we touched on included trade agreements (and the need to protect our intellectual property rights when we enter into new FTAs), government regulations and access to credit for small businesses.
I urge everyone to pay attention to the issues being debated in Washington that affect us.
- Write to your legislators–They pay attention to letters and e-mails.
- Invite your Congressman to tour your plant–PMA will help set up the visit.
- Be involved –The decisions made in Washington do affect us and this is our best opportunity to educate and influence our elected representatives.
Gretchen Zierick is President of Zierick Manufacturing Corporation. She has served on PMA's Governmental Action team and the PMA Educational Foundation Board. Her 90 year old, family founded company manufactures electronic connectors and assembly equipment for a variety of industries.
Bob Clay is CEO of Pridgeon & Clay, Inc., and PMA Chairman for 2011. His family-founded company is a Tier One and Tier Two automotive supplier that also operates an A2LA-accredited Advanced Engineering Laboratory.
Bill Gaskin, president of Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), represents the $113-billion metalforming industry of North America—the industry that uses stamping, fabricating, spinning, slide forming, roll forming technologies and other value-added processes. PMA’s Educational Foundation, MetalForming magazine and FABTECH’s METALFORM technology area are affiliates.
David C. Sansone, CAE, is Executive Director of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Educational Foundation and PMA's Director of Training and Education. He leads the association’s efforts to provide workforce-development solutions to the metalforming industry and interfaces with the industry’s workforce-solution providers.
