APPLICATIONS
FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AID DIP TO 367K
Today in Manufacturing
Today in Manufacturing
The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell by
5,250 to 379,000, which was the first decline since late March … continue
U.S. TRADE
GAP WIDENS AT RECORD PACE
Today in Manufacturing
Today in Manufacturing
The trade deficit rose in March at the fastest rate in 10
months as a rise in consumer goods lifted imports to a record level, outpacing
a solid gain in U.S. exports … continue
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Quick Manufacturing News
China on
Thursday said its trade surplus widened in April as import growth slowed,
casting doubts over the capacity of the world's second-biggest economy to
rebound quickly.
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Quick Manufacturing News
The latest Report to the Nations On Occupational Fraud and
Abuse, the biennial study of global fraud by the Association of Certified
Fraud Examiners, finds that organizations lose an average of 5% of revenues
to fraud each year, with a median loss of $140,000. However, just over
one-fifth of fraud schemes results in losses topping $1 million.
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Quick Manufacturing News
The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration renewed its alliance with the
Laser Instiute of America to reduce and prevent worker exposure to laser-beam
and non-beam hazards in industrial, research and medical workplaces. The
alliance will also share information on laser regulations and standards,
effects lasers have on the eyes and skin, laser-control measures and
laser-safety program administration.
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Quick Manufacturing News
Though demand from Southern Europe is off, thanks to the
eurozone debt crisis, the trade group representing the region's largest
machine-tool builders' association sees indicators of current and long-term
strength.
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National Association of Manufacturers
House Vote on Ex-Im Is a Victory for
Manufacturing Jobs. The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank is essential to
manufacturers’ global competitiveness. On Wednesday, May 9, the House of
Representatives passed a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Bank’s authority
to help manufacturers export to new markets, create jobs and compete
globally. The Bank is currently operating under an extension that expires May
31.
The NAM has ramped up
its efforts on Capitol Hill in recent weeks and has held hundreds of meetings
with lawmakers to emphasize the importance of passing this legislation. The
NAM also key
voted the legislation. In addition, the NAM continues its print and
online ad campaign and its efforts at the grassroots and grasstops levels to
promote reauthorization.
The bill, spearheaded by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
(R-VA) and Minority Whip Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), will gradually raise the
lending cap to $120 billion for the rest of the current fiscal year, which
ends September 30, and then to $130 billion in 2013 and $140 billion in 2014.
The bill now goes to the Senate for a vote.
NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons applauded the agreement.
“Today the House put jobs first by passing legislation to reauthorize the
Ex-Im Bank and increase its lending authority. Manufacturers thank House
Majority Leader Cantor and Minority Whip Hoyer for their leadership on this
bipartisan bill that gives thousands of small and medium-sized manufacturers
the ability to reach new and important markets and supports nearly 290,000
jobs,” Timmons
said in a statement.
The Ex-Im Bank is one of the only tools manufacturers in
the United States have to counter hundreds of billions of dollars of export
financing that foreign governments offer to their exporters. Denying Ex-Im
authorization will hurt manufacturers of every size and threaten thousands of
U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Last year, the Bank supported more than $41 billion to exports
from more than 3,600 companies with more than 85 percent of the transactions
benefitting U.S. small businesses. Those exports, in turn, supported nearly
290,000 American jobs. Moreover, the Bank helped reduce the deficit,
returning more than $3.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury over the past few
years.
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Proposed Rules on Hydraulic Fracturing
Add Unnecessary Burden. On Friday, May 4, the Department of Interior
released a proposed rule for oil and gas hydraulic fracturing activities on
public and Indian lands. The rule could impose yet another layer of
regulatory reporting requirements, paperwork and certifications in addition
to rules states have placed on producers. “The new regulations out of the
Administration today will unnecessarily slow down an affordable source that
is driving growth. The states are already effectively regulating
hydraulic fracturing. New federal rules will be confusing and duplicative and
will add unnecessary regulatory burden for energy producers. Shale
development has a tremendous upside for manufacturers, the 12 million people
who work directly in U.S. manufacturing and our entire economy,” said NAM
President and CEO Jay Timmons in a statement.
The disclosure of fracking fluids also continues to be a concern to the
industry as manufacturers try to maintain confidential business information
(CBI) in a highly competitive industry. Businesses will have to carefully
review this proposed rule. Once it is published in the Federal Register, the
NAM will submit comments.
Speak Out Against the EPA’s Costly Utility Air Rule. The
NAM is urging manufacturing companies and associations to support Sen. James
Inhofe’s (R-OK) Resolution of Disapproval (S.J. Res. 37) to repeal the
Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Utility Mercury and Air Toxics
Standards (MATS) for power plants—also known as Utility MACT. Click here
to sign a coalition letter backing Sen. Inhofe’s resolution.The deadline for
signatures has been extended to Sunday, May 13. By the EPA’s own accounting,
Utility MACT would cost almost $90 billion, making it the most expensive rule
ever imposed on the power plant sector and one of the most expensive rules
the Agency has ever issued. This rule will vastly increase energy costs for
manufacturers, who use one-third of the energy consumed in this country.
Manufacturers expect a vote on the resolution in June.
TransCanada Submits New Application for Keystone XL
Pipeline. Late last week, TransCanada submitted a new application to the
State Department for the permits needed to build the Keystone XL pipeline
across the U.S. and Canadian border. TransCanada is re-applying for the
permit following President Obama’s rejection of the pipeline earlier this
year, which denied the United States a broadly supported source of jobs and
economic growth. “Second chances don’t come around very often, and
manufacturers are urging the President to do the right thing and approve the
Keystone XL pipeline,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons in a statement.
TransCanada is working closely with the state of Nebraska to find a new route
for the pipeline that would avoid the sensitive areas in the state. Nebraska
is also working to complete the necessary Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) by the end of 2012. Canada has made it clear that if it cannot build a
pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico in a reasonable amount of time, it will pursue
other options.
EPA Extends Deadline to Comment on Proposed Greenhouse
Gas Regulation. The EPA will extend the deadline for the public to
comment on proposed greenhouse gas New Source Performance Standards (NSPS)
for coal-fueled power plants until June 25. The Agency also announced that
two public hearings on the first-of-its-kind proposal will be held on
Thursday, May 24, in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Ill. Manufacturers are
concerned about these proposed regulations because they make it nearly
impossible to build new coal-fueled power plants, taking an affordable and
abundant supply of energy off the table. This rulemaking is vitally important
because the EPA has committed itself to issuing similar standards for
refineries and, over time, will likely be forced to issue greenhouse gas
standards for other manufacturing sectors as well. The NAM is preparing
comments on the proposal to ensure that the Agency is aware of manufacturers’
concerns.
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NAM to Testify on Conflict Minerals and
Regulations. On Thursday, May 10, the U.S. House of Representatives’
Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy
and Trade held a hearing on “The
Costs and Consequences of Dodd-Frank Section 1502: Impacts on America and the
Congo.” The hearing focused on conflict minerals and regulations that the
Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to put into law soon. As
the leading organization on this issue, the NAM was asked to testify, and
Vice President of International Economic Affairs Frank Vargo provided
testimony. Vargo highlighted the NAM’s analysis that the SEC guidelines as
currently drafted could cost American industry roughly $9 billion to comply.
The NAM has been and will continue playing a crucial role in urging the SEC
to put into law final regulations that are reasonable, will minimize cost and
disruption to U.S. manufacturers and will provide for a phase-in period to
allow companies time to develop the information infrastructure necessary to
comply with the SEC’s reporting requirements, as well as flexible due
diligence.
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NAM Urges Congress to
Pass Pension-Funding Stabilization Provisions. The NAM continues to work
with the broader business community to build support for the pension-funding
stabilization provisions included in the Senate-passed highway transportation
bill, which is now in a joint House and Senate Conference Committee that will
seek to reconcile differences between the versions. The Senate version
includes a provision that would change the formula on which pension
contributions are based from today’s two-year average to one that would
disregard any interest rate segment not within 10 percent of the 25-year
average interest rate. As part of the newly re-formed Pension Coalition, the
NAM will send a letter to Congress urging support for making the highway bill’s
pension-funding stabilization provisions permanent, opposing increased PBGC
premiums and seeking a longer amortization schedule for plan liabilities.
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Victory on Wages
for Clothes-Changing and Travel Time. In 1947, the Portal-to-Portal Act
reined in litigation that was forcing employers to pay wages they had not
bargained for relating to clothes-changing activities and travel time to the
workplace. This week, the Seventh Circuit ruled on a case involving employees
seeking wages for clothes changing and walking time from locker rooms to
workstations. The court ruled that a collective bargaining agreement that
excludes clothes-changing activities from paid time should be honored. It
also ruled that, under such an agreement, principal work activities do not
start until the employee reaches his or her workstation. The Court provided
practical and economic-based reasons for unions and employers to agree to
such conditions, and for not allowing the courts to upset the expectations of
the parties. The NAM filed an amicus brief last year supporting this
result.
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The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) Board
reviewed and approved four companies’ business growth incentives... Read
Article
US MANUFACTURERS ENGAGED IN RESHORING PUSH
Christian Science
Monitor
"In an unexpected and beneficial twist for the US
economy, manufacturing, much of it high-skilled, is returning from abroad,
primarily China," citing recent moves from manufacturers, such as GE, NCR,
Ford, and Wham-O. Some analysts "go so far as to call it a renaissance in
US manufacturing that will create high-paying jobs and provide crucial economic
support for local communities across the country. ... One big factor behind the
move is the rising cost of labor in China."
Note: UMA, together
with a group of member company manufacturers, met with Utah Department of
Workforce Services and GOED yesterday to discuss a plan to return manufactured
products and hence jobs from China. There are some very interesting efforts to
take advantage of a changing landscape in Asia by several Utah manufacturers.
More to come…
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