Seeking to bring overseas jobs back to LI
U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, left, and chief executive Jim D’Addario on Monday inspect guitar straps made locally. Returning production of the straps and other musical accessories from overseas created 25 new jobs. (Feb. 27, 2012) Credit: Newsday / Audrey C. Tiernan
D'Addario & Co., a maker of musical instrument accessories in East Farmingdale, wants to help manufacturers do what it's been doing for the past two years: bring production work to the United States that's done overseas.
With that in mind, chief executive Jim D'Addario has been talking with Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) about a possible loan program. And Israel expected Monday night to introduce a bill establishing such financing through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
D'Addario's enterprise, with a workforce of 1,100 including 800 in Suffolk County, may be too big to qualify for the low-interest loans, if Israel's legislation becomes law. (SBA programs generally target businesses with 500 or fewer employees.) But that's not why D'Addario is working for passage.
"This isn't about me," he said Monday morning. "This is about bringing jobs back to the United States . . . We're a financially strong company. We don't need to borrow as much money as others" to pay for building improvements, new equipment and worker training that is required to shift work back to this country.
Israel Monday announced his "Bring the Jobs Home Loan Act" on the factory floor at D'Addario & Company.
Dozens of workers, taking a break from turning out guitar strings, joined him, company executives and officials from Babylon Town and the Long Island Association business group.
Israel said the loan program would be similar to the popular SBA guaranteed-loan program, where Uncle Sam backs financing from private banks. Eligibility requirements would be determined by the SBA but loans would cover construction and machinery costs as well as worker training, he said.
Acknowledging his political party doesn't control the House of Representatives' agenda, Israel vowed to work with the Republican majority. Democrats hold sway in the Senate.
Last month, President Barack Obama, a Democrat, unveiled measures that he said would discourage American companies from shipping work overseas. These include elimination of tax breaks for moving operations abroad, a 20-percent tax break on the expenses of returning work to the United States and higher taxes on profits earned in foreign lands.
Israel said Monday, "There is no reason why Republicans and Democrats cannot agree to this . . . It won't raise taxes and it will create jobs."
He was excited to meet some of the 25 workers at D'Addario & Company whose jobs are a result of transferring $2-million worth of production of guitar straps, cables and humidifiers -- much of it from China -- to here.
"This is what it's all about," said Israel, pointing to the tiny U.S. flag on a package of D'Addario's Planet Waves American Stage instrument cable.
