jobs

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Some Thoughts About Remington, Jobs, And Its Union

February 19, 2014 by 9 Comments

I will be the first to admit I don’t know much about the inner workings of unions. I was born and bred in North Carolina which is both a right-to-work state and the least unionized state in the nation. While I have and have had relatives who were union members in the North, I’ve never worked in a job that lent itself to unionization.

Yesterday I received a very perceptive and enlightening email regarding Remington, jobs, and unions. The person who sent it to me is very well versed in the inner workings of unions but prefers no attribution and to remain anonymous.

The first point he made is that Remington Outdoor Company will say nothing about moving jobs from Ilion to Huntsville for a couple of reasons. First, anything that Remington says that could be interpreted as coercion or related to bargaining would likely lead to serious charges brought by the National Labor Relations Board. The second reason is that Remington’s contract with UMW Local 717 could very well contain language or clauses that would lead to automatic unionization of the Huntsville facility. This is referred to as successor language.

The second point he made is that without successor language, it doesn’t look good for union representation in the South especially given the loss at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. Interestingly enough, Alabama has the highest unionization rate of any Southern state.

Remington has a large operation in Ilion and it won’t be easy to move. But given time, you will start to see operations begin to move South. It is my understanding that R&D is already slated to move to Huntsville. The city, by the way, is also home to the Redstone Arsenal which has as one of its component organizations that Army Material Command as well as a number of Ordnance Corps units. If the Republicans take control of the US Senate, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is the 3rd ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and could easily get the ear of the DoD for Remington.

I was able to look at an earlier collective bargaining agreement between Local 717 and Remington. While I did not find successor language in it, I did see language that mandated certain models produced by Remington must be made in Ilion. Article II- Scope and Coverage, Section g – Job Security says that products such as the Remington Model 7, 700, 7400, and 7600 rifles and the Remington Model 870, 1100, and 1187 shotguns “will continued to be produced only at the Ilion plant”. It did allow for Remington to procure component parts elsewhere. This contract expired in 2007 and I can’t imagine succeeding contracts not containing similar language.

The current contract was ratified in December 2012. The highlights of the contract as publicized by the United Mine Workers of America HQ include:

The new pact includes a provision extending Local 717 jurisdiction to any new plant that Remington builds, as the company is presently considering, within a 100-mile radius of the main plant in Ilion, N.Y. In addition to a $500 signing bonus, the contract features 3 percent wage increases in each of the first four years, and 3.5 percent in the final year. It also maintains the current level of medical benefits, improves the language governing overtime and creates a new position, Utility Specialist, aimed at reducing the reassignment of regular workers.

This contract was ratified two days before the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. They could not have imagined the NY SAFE Act when the collective bargaining agreement was ratified. If this contract contained the same earlier language as to what models would be produced at the Ilion plant, you have to wonder if it extended to the Bushmaster AR-15s whose production had been shifted from Windham, Maine to Ilion. It is hard to conceive that a company would want to take the chance of producing a firearm in a state where it couldn’t be sold.

To sum it all up, while Remington’s current contract with Local 717 may preclude the rapid transfer of existing production lines from Ilion to Huntsville, production will start shifting South over time.

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The Effects Of The NY SAFE Act Coming Home To Roost

February 16, 2014 by 1 Comment

The backers of the New York SAFE Act said the law would make New Yorkers safer. About the only thing I can see that it has done is to cost good, hard working New Yorkers their jobs.

This view is shared by Fran Madore, President of United Mine Workers Local 717. The union represents the overwhelming majority of the workers at Remington’s Ilion, New York plant.

A union official said Saturday the Remington Arms Co.’s decision to open a manufacturing plant in Alabama does not bode well for Ilion, and he’s blaming New York’s SAFE Act restrictions on assault weapons.

“It can’t be good,” said Fran Madore, president of United Mine Workers Local 717, which represents 1,180 of the 1,300 Remington employees in Ilion. “How can it be good?”

Madore said plant officials told him they wanted to meet with him Monday. They did not say what they wanted to talk about, but Madore said he assumes it will be about the company’s reported plans to open a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Ala.

In his interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, Madore goes on to say that the NY SAFE Act crippled them and that he is worried that jobs will lost in Ilion.

I think Mr. Madore has good reason to be worried.

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Mayodan Expects A Multiplier Effect On Jobs With Ruger

July 10, 2013 by

Officials with the Town of Mayodan and Rockingham County expect that the manufacturing jobs brought there with Ruger’s new manufacturing plant will only be the beginning. They expect a 2:1 ratio of jobs created as a result of Ruger’s expansion. These new jobs will come from both suppliers and service businesses such as restaurants and coffee shops.

WFMY News 2 in Greensboro reports on this expected multiplier effect. They also report on the site selection process that Ruger and its advisor Greyhill Advisors used to decide on Mayodan. I found it interesting that went so far as to attend the local churches to get a feel for the area.

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To Paraphrase, It’s Jobs, Stupid

February 26, 2013 by

The National Shooting Sports Foundation held a series of interviews with managers and workers of a number of Connecticut firearms and firearms accessory manufacturers recently. As the Connecticut legislature looks at a number of draconian gun control laws in the wake of the Newtown shootings, this video puts a human face on the workers of the Connecticut gun industry.

The interviews are with the leaders and employees of O.F. Mossberg, Stag Arms, and magazine maker Ammunition Storage Components.

To paraphrase political strategist James Carville, it’s jobs, stupid. While the jobs may not disappear overnight as it is hard to transfer operations to other locations, if these laws pass, I think you will see more and more of their operations being moved to more gun-friendly states. Indeed, industrial recruiters from such states are already hovering.

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Magpul Draws Their LIne In The Sand

February 16, 2013 by 8 Comments

Magpul has made it more than just talk. If the Colorado legislature passes the mag ban law, they will be moving. Going with them will be one of their major subcontractors Alfred Manufacturing. They made the official announcement a couple of hours ago on Facebook.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MAGPUL INDUSTRIES ANNOUNCES IT WILL LEAVE COLORADO IF GUN BILL PASSES

MOVE WOULD COST STATE 600 JOBS, $85 MILLION

Denver, Colorado – February 15th, 2013 – Magpul Industries, an Erie, Colorado, based manufacturer of firearms accessories, announced today that it will be forced to leave the state if House Bill 1224, which would ban standard capacity magazines, becomes law. The announcement was made to Governor Hickenlooper, state legislators, members of the media, and in a full-page advertisement to appear in the Denver Post on Sunday.

Richard Fitzpatrick, Founder, President, and CEO of Magpul Industries, said that regardless of any amendments that may be worked into the bill, he will no longer be able to continue to do business in Colorado if his core product is made illegal.

“Our company could not, in good conscience, continue to manufacture our products in a state where law-abiding citizens are prohibited from purchasing and owning them. ” Fitzpatrick said. “The passage of this bill will do nothing to enhance public safety, but will force us to immediately begin taking our business to another state.”

A proponent of the bill argued that with the amendment language, the choice to stay or leave was up to Magpul. Fitzpatrick responded, “Our relationship with our customers across the country would be severely damaged if this bill passes and we stay. We’ve already heard word of potential boycotts if that happens. They (legislators) really need to understand that our customer base is as passionate about freedoms as we are, and staying here if this bill passes would cripple the company. Make no doubt about it…we have no choice, and would be forced to leave in order to save the business.”

Magpul cited the example of the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Show, which was canceled earlier this year after the organizers announced that it would not permit a popular category of firearm, like the ones Magpul makes accessories for, in the show. Public outcry from the customer base forced exhibitors to withdraw from participation, causing the cancellation of the show, and an estimated loss of $70 million of show revenue for hotels, restaurants, merchants, and other businesses in Pennsylvania, where the show was to be held.

Magpul Industries directly employs 200 people, supports another 400 supply-chain jobs, and contributes over $85 million annually to Colorado’s economy. Doug Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Magpul, says that it is a difficult position to be in. “We could choose to stay in a state that wants our jobs and revenue, but not our products, and lose half the jobs we are fighting to save, or potentially the entire business, when our customers stop buying. Or, we can take the company and those 600 jobs out of Colorado to continue our growth and the growth of American manufacturing in a state that shares our values. This is not really a choice. It’s an unfortunate and inevitable result of the actions of the Legislature if this bill passes.”

Magpul was started over a decade ago by Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Marine. It has become one of Colorado’s fastest growing businesses, successfully marketing its products to American and allied military forces, police departments, sporting goods stores, and thousands of responsible private citizens. Fitzpatrick says that the rich western culture and strong values of individual freedom and responsibility, traditionally found in Colorado, were one of the reasons the company chose to remain in the state.

“It is heartbreaking to me, my employees, and their families, to think that we will be forced to leave,” Fitzpatrick said. “But if HB13-1224 passes, we will simply have no choice.”

 See this earlier post on ways to contact Gov. John Hickenlooper. On his Twitter feed, Hickenlooper keeps talking about growing the economy and adding jobs. Losing 600 jobs due to ineffectual, liberal feel-good legislation will give Colorado negative job growth. I’d emphasize that among other things.

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Oh, The Irony!

February 2, 2013 by

In the little Mohawk Valley village of Ilion (population 8,053) sits the nation’s oldest continuously operated arms manufacturer Remington Arms. It employs over 1,300 well-paid and talented workers in a region that has seen over 11,000 manufacturing jobs lost since 1990.

The village had a town meeting in January before the vote on the NY-SAFE Act. As you can well imagine, their concern was over jobs and not gun control.

The NY-SAFE bill was enacted into law and the concerns over jobs was ignored.

So it should come as no surprise that a number of states have contacted the Freedom Group about moving their Remington Arms plant to a state that is more appreciative of gun rights and gun manufacturing jobs.

At least five states have contacted the parent company of Remington Arms to encourage the gun manufacturer to relocate in response to New York’s new, tougher gun control laws.

Lawmakers from Michigan, South Carolina, Arizona and Oklahoma have all sent letters to Remington’s owner, Freedom Group, since the state Legislature passed tougher gun control legislation two weeks ago. Texas first contacted the company in November 2012.

While North Carolina isn’t mentioned in that list, I would be surprised if officials from the state’s economic development office haven’t already trekked to Madison, NC to speak with Freedom Group executives about relocation. If they haven’t, they are being derelict in their duties.

Mohawk Valley economic development officials and politicians are taking these contacts very seriously. Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) called fears that Remington might relocate “realistic” while Herkimer County IDA Executive Director Mark Feane said they are very concerned given the incentives that other states might offer.

No one knows at this time what the Freedom Group will do. However, if they do move the Remington Ilion plant, I would find it deliciously ironic if the trucks moving the plant’s machinery just happened to detour around the Governor’s Mansion and the New York Capitol Building on their way out of state. It might lengthen the journey by a few hours but it would be worth it to remind politicians about the law of unintended consequences.