NTMA, PMA Strengthen Industry Advocacy

The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) and the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) have announced that they are combining their federal government advocacy programs to promote U.S. government policies that will ensure a strong manufacturing sector in the United States. The two organizations, each of which had an active advocacy program for many years, will implement this coordinated, joint federal advocacy effort while maintaining their status as separate organizations. Together, industries represented by PMA and NTMA employ nearly 1 million and have combined sales in excess of $130 billion.

 

The organizations have engaged the Franklin Partnership, LLP, a bipartisan government relations firm that provides comprehensive legislative affairs and public policy services, to support this joint advocacy program for the 111th Congress. The Partnership’s diverse client base includes large and small manufacturing companies, manufacturing trade associations, municipal governments, defense contractors, hospitals and medical research facilities, among others.
The organizations will lobby the 111th Congress on the following issues: defeating Employee Free Choice legislation, which would not allow employees to cast a secret ballot in determining whether to be represented by a union; as well as advocating for permanent R&D tax credit; affordable health care choices for small, middle-market companies; corporate tax changes to assure a strong U.S. manufacturing base; federal support for education in the skilled trades; enforcement of trade laws; access by U.S. manufacturers to globally competitive prices for raw materials; industrial consumer standing in trade cases; and addressing the estate tax issue on a permanent basis.

 

Jim McGregor, chair of PMA’s Government Relations Committee, says metalworking trade associations need to work together to develop a larger, more effective footprint in Washington D.C. “While doezens of separate trade associations represent various metalforming technologies, only a few are actively engaged in Washington D.C.,” McGregor says. “PMA’s partnership with NTMA to fight for manufacturing in America is a big step forward in increasing our industry’s effectiveness in lobbying for policies that help create high-wage, high-skilled jobs among small, middle-market manufacturers.

 

For more information, visit www.ntma.org or www.pma.org.