What do we want? The passing of the Bipartisan Innovation Act!
When do we want it? Now!
That’s the feeling amongst the AEA (Association of Equipment Manufacturers) who is urging US Congress to pass the Bipartisan Innovation Act as a means to out-compete China, increase domestic research and manufacturing, and ensure the US has supply chains that work for its own national security and economy.
On June 9, 2022, the AEM releases its own “Faces of Manufacturing” as a means to help rally the 2.8 million workers in the equipment manufacturing sector to support better pro-manufacturing policies.
It’s to create more of a “Made in America” scenario.
A key piece to the “Faces of Manufacturing” is the AEM’s 90-second video that showcases 22 equipment manufacturing workers urging their fellow workers to rise up with a unified voice that tells elected officials that they want to “create jobs, grow the economy, and keep the industry strong.”
Faces of Manufacturing
AEM's Faces of Manufacturing video
The AEM stated that along with the video, it would support the “Faces of Manufacturing” initiative with additional digital and print materials to equipment manufacturers around the US to ensure supporters are able to make their voice heard.
The AEM feels that this is the best way to help advance policies such as the Bipartisan Innovation Act that will help the US strengthen its manufacturing industry and all of the communities it supports.
“Faces of Manufacturing” is part of AEM’s national grassroots campaign, I Make America, which it is using to educate and engage with equipment manufacturing workers about the issues that impact their daily jobs, personal family, and communities.
“Fueled by a legacy of grit and ingenuity, America’s equipment manufacturers can out-compete anyone,” stated Kip Eideberg, the Senior Vice President of Government and Industry Relations for the AEM. “But when other countries engage in unfair trade and investment practices, we are effectively forced to compete with one hand tied behind our back. With fewer than seven months until the midterm elections, we are mobilizing the men and women of our industry to send a message to Congress: they must come together in a bipartisan fashion to enhance American competitiveness and empower U.S. workers and companies to succeed in domestic and international markets.”
AEM’s I Make America campaign has been in play for over 10 years empowering support for policies it hopes will keep the US equipment manufacturing industry strong, and its workers employed.
This current phase of the campaign is the first time it has been used to mobilize the backbone of the industry—assemblers, electricians, machinists, painters, welders, and others—around a common cause.
The “Faces of Manufacturing” video was shot on location at Astec (Chattanooga, Tennessee), Case IH (Racine, Wisconsin), Husco (Waukesha, Wisconsin), Komatsu America Corporation (Chattanooga, Tennessee), Kondex Corporation (Lomira, Wisconsin), and Miller Formless (McHenry, Illinois).
To join the NTEA and to learn more about the “Faces of Manufacturing”, visit www.ntea.com.