Rolls-Royce announced this week that they are investing $136 million for a second manufacturing plant at their Crosspointe facility in Prince George County, resulting in 140 new, highly skilled jobs. They will manufacture turbine blades for jet engines, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A380. Sitework is scheduled to begin in December and construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2013.

Rolls Royce’s investment and expansion at Crosspointe is a great model for job growth in Virginia. By combining a mix of manufacturing and technology-based research facilities, secondary suppliers will follow to create more employment opportunities.

The construction of the second plant achieves two-thirds of its phased employment and investment agreement at Crosspointe, which runs through 2022.  Rolls Royce invested $170 million, opening its Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing earlier this year, which created 130 new jobs.  

Read more case studies for job growth in my memo on jobs in the 4^th District here.

This week I had the opportunity to tour the Unilever Lipton tea facility in Suffolk to learn about its aggressive recycling and composting program that has made them a “zero-landfill” facility. It's great to have such a successful waste-to-energy program in the Fourth District.  

Read more about the facility on the City of Suffolk website in a news article that was posted when Unilever achieved its “zero-landfill” status.

On April 20, the National Labor Relations Board filed a 10-page complaint against Boeing for its decision to locate a new assembly plant for the 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina.  Like the Commonwealth of Virginia, South Carolina is a "right-to-work" state where individual employees can join unions voluntarily, but unions cannot force membership across entire worksites.  The complaint alleges that the plant's location in South Carolina represented illegal retaliation against employees belonging to the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) that comprise the majority of the workforce of Boeing's main Seattle, Washington plant.  IAM had gone on strike four times from 1989-2008, with the most recent 2008 strike lasting almost two months and costing the company nearly $100 million a day in deferred revenue.  Boeing has hired nearly 1,000 new employees in its new South Carolina plant and has invested $2 billion in the project; the company argues that all jobs in South Carolina are new and not a single Washington State union member has lost a job as a result of the action.  Now, the NLRB is seeking a judicial order for the company to shift all production of the 787 Dreamliner commercial jets to its main facility in Seattle. The New York Times called the suit “the strongest signal yet of the new pro-labor orientation of the National Labor Relationship Board under President Obama” and critics of the suit argue that "it would make it effectively impossible for U.S. companies to choose to open new facilities in right-to-work states if they are currently located in a state that allows forced unionization."

Question of the Week:  Are you concerned that the NLRB's lawsuit against Boeing will prevent other manufacturing companies from locating facilities in right-to-work states in the future, limiting job creation in states that do not force unionization?

(  ) Yes, I am concerned that this lawsuit will limit manufacturers' ability to locate facilities in right-to-work states.
(  ) No, I am not concerned that this law could limit manufacturers' ability to locate facilities in right-to-work states.
(  ) Other (share your thoughts below)
(  ) I am unsure.

Take the poll here.

Find out the results of last week’s instaPoll here.

The manufacturing industry supports an estimated 18.6 million jobs in the United States – about one in six private sector jobs.

With the unemployment rate at 9 percent, it is vital that we reinvigorate this important but fading industry in order to promote growth and competitiveness, create well-paying jobs, and enable innovation and investment.  That is why I am cosponsoring the National Manufacturing Strategy Act, which requires the President to submit a National Manufacturing Strategy to Congress during every presidential term.

Under this bill, the President’s Manufacturing Strategy Board would conduct a comprehensive analysis of the American manufacturing industry and take into consideration relevant reports and recommendations issued by Federal agencies, Federal advisory boards, academics and the private sector.  Based on the analysis, certain strategies and policies would be recommended to strengthen and improve the manufacturing industry.

The analysis would address: 

• The identification of emerging markets, technologies and products that America’s manufacturing industry could compete in;
• The value and role of the manufacturing industry in the American economy, security and global leadership;
• Federal, State, local and Territorial policies, programs and conditions that affect manufacturing;
• A comparison of other nations’ manufacturing policies and programs;
• Expected national and international trends that are likely to affect the industry, both short- and long-term, and;
• The manner in which Federal agencies communicate and share information affecting the competitiveness, growth, stability and sustainability of the manufacturing sector.

What do you think America needs to do to reinvigorate our manufacturing industry and create more jobs?

Multinational companies are creating jobs overseas and cutting their U.S. staffs. Below, see cumulative changes in the U.S. and abroad since 1999:

The manufacturing industry has been especially hard-hit by this trend toward outsourcing, with manufacturers shifting low-value, labor-intensive production to other countries. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. has lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since 1998. By 2015, it is estimated that U.S. employers could move 3.4 million service sector jobs and $136 billion in wages overseas.

The U.S. manufacturing sector is critical to our economic infrastructure, and we must create an environment that promotes the repatriation of manufacturing jobs.

To do that, I am cosponsoring the Bring Jobs Back to America Act. This bill offers a commonsense strategy for rebuilding America’s manufacturing industry and bringing outsourced jobs back to the United States. The bill includes several key elements: 

• Requires the Secretary of Commerce to create a national strategy to bring back manufacturing jobs;
• Creates task forces to support efforts to identify American companies with manufacturing operations overseas and help return these jobs to the U.S.;
• Sets up a study of international manufacturing trends and offers solutions for how America can compete against countries such as China, Japan and India;
• Mandates a study of a new tax incentive to return jobs to the U.S. market;
• Streamlines the patent process for American research universities and brings innovative technologies to market faster; and
• Provides protections to prevent other countries from stealing U.S. technology.

You can read more about the bill here.

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a roundtable meeting with area business leaders and manufacturers at the Smithfield Food Headquarters. On our agenda? Discussing policies that will help rebuild jobs and energize manufacturing in America, like the Bring Jobs Back to America Act that I have cosponsored.

I was also honored to receive an award from the National Association of Manufacturers for my work on pro-jobs legislation in Congress. NAM is the nation’s largest industrial trade association representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states.

Question of the Week: How can the government best enable job growth?

Select from among any of the following answers that apply (you may select more than one):

(  ) Reenergize manufacturing in the U.S.
(  ) Increase access to capital for small businesses
(  ) Rein in burdensome regulations
(  ) Reform the tax code
(  ) Reduce taxes
(  ) Decrease the deficit and national debt
(  ) Address high energy costs for families and businesses
(  ) Other (please post your ideas below)

Take the poll here.

View the results from last week’s instaPoll here.

• $1,161,000,000,000:  The total cost of the Democrats “stimulus.”  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the cost of the bill will reach $814 billion and interest on the debt for the bill will be at least $347 billion.

• 9.6%:  The unemployment rate for the month of August 2010.

• 283,000:  The number of jobs lost in June, July and August 2010.

• 3,582,000:  The number of gross jobs lost since the “stimulus” was signed into law.

• 6,249,000:  The number of Americans unemployed and searching for work for more than 27 weeks.

• 45.4%:  The percentage of people between the ages of 16 and 24 years old with a job.  Prior to the stimulus, employment among 16 to 24 year olds had never slipped below 47.5 percent.

As you know, I was one of only 17 Members of Congress to vote against both this stimulus and every other stimulus and bailout under the Bush and Obama Administrations because I believed that they would not work.

As I have said from the beginning, real economic growth comes from generating income and wealth for American families, and income and wealth come from increasing commerce and growing jobs. I believe we need to focus on solutions that provide more opportunities to small businesses, so that they can begin to create more jobs and lead us back on the path to economic recovery.

I want to hear your thoughts – what do you think is the best way to create jobs for Americans?