WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) released the below statement following the news that GE-Savant will be closing its Bucyrus light bulb plant and its Logan glass plant:
“Once again, we are witnessing the result of decades of misguided tax and trade policies that work against Ohio workers and companies that want to manufacture in the U.S. I have been fighting alongside the men and women of GE-Savant for years, and I won’t stop fighting for them and their community now. This announcement should serve as a wake-up call – innovation happens on the shop room floor, and when 99% of energy-efficient light bulbs are made in China, it is impossible for us to compete. We need to make more things in America – not cede market share in the products of the future to China.”
Sen. Brown has long led efforts to keep GE-Savant in Ohio. After the company laid off workers at its Bucyrus plant, Brown wrote to Robert Madonna, CEO of Savant, to press him for answers and urge the company to work with Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser, the city of Bucyrus, and IUE-CWA Local 84704 to keep jobs and high-efficiency lighting production in Ohio. Brown also wrote to Walmart leadership, asking the company to get involved in local efforts to save high-efficiency lighting jobs at the GE-Savant plant in Bucyrus.
Last year, Brown visited with GE-Savant workers and union leaders at the IUE-CWA Local Union Hall to show solidarity following his pressure to GE-Savant leadership to keep the company and jobs in Ohio. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Brown continued to push for action and advocate on behalf of workers at the GE-Savant plant in Bucyrus and a tax code that supports American manufacturing. During the hearing, Brown questioned expert Ohio witnesses on steps that can be taken to halt plant closures and manufacturing layoffs like those in Bucyrus.
Brown has unveiled his framework to overhaul international taxation, which would end incentives to offshore jobs, invest in America, and ensure mega-corporations pay their fair share.
Brown helped save and expand the Bucyrus plant in 2010, helping secure a $19.8 million tax credit, funded through the Recovery Act’s Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (“48C”) program, to retool for clean energy manufacturing.
Tagged with GE, lightED