Gillibrand seeks to aid manufacturers

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made a push Tuesday for legislation aimed at helping struggling manufacturing companies on Long Island and in the state. The industry, she said in a teleconference with reporters, has lost about 123,000 jobs between 2005 and 2011. Long Island lost about 13,500 such jobs in the same period, Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand proposed $25 billion in tax credits that would provide qualified companies with funds to retool, diversify, become green, retrain employees and offer money and technical expertise to take advantage of export opportunities.

"There's no question how concerned New Yorkers are about the economy," said Gillibrand, a Democrat. "It's their No. 1 concern."

Anne Shybunko-Moore, president of GSE Dynamics Inc., a Hauppauge-based manufacturer of military parts and chair of a congressional task force on Long Island manufacturing, has heard all the statistics and proposed legislation before. But she remains optimistic.

What helps, she said, is the growing collaborations among companies, educational institutions and business groups. "The way the economy has shifted has made us look to one another rather than compete as in the past," Shybunko-Moore said.