Manufacturing Industry News

SCHAUMBURG – Picking up on its annual volunteer effort, members of TMA gathered September 21 at the non-profit group “Feed My Starving Children”  – organized and promoted by TMA’s “Christians in Manufacturing” community. 

PHOTO GALLERY HERE: 

Among the 40 TMA volunteers putting together nearly 20,000 meals for needy children worldwide was TMA’s new President Patrick Osborne, Executive Vice President Dennis LaComb, past TMA Board Chairman Tom Hacker and his wife Anne. 
The TMA Community will host its annual Prayer Breakfast November 5th at the Chandlers Steakhouse in Schaumburg, IL.  For more information, see HERE: https://web.tmaillinois.org/events 

​A survey from the Precision Metalforming Association indicates that many metalforming companies expect lead times to continue increasing in the months ahead. The survey, based on reporting from 114 manufacturing companies that are members of the PMA, reflects conditions as they were reported at the beginning of September.

​More at TMANews.com 

WOOD DALE IL  – Chicago Welding & Fabrication has moved to a new facility in Wood Dale, Illinois that provides double the space of its former location, giving the full-service welding and metal fabrication company much-needed room to grow and to add new equipment, including additional robotic welding systems.

“Our previous facility was becoming crowded as work demand increased,” says the company’s CEO/President Walt Kopp. “That was threatening to restrict our ability to expand services and handle our current customer workload in a timely way. The new facility gives us the space and flexibility that lets us better manage larger projects and higher volumes while continuing to add new services for our customers and turn around projects quickly while performing quality work.”

More at TMANews.com 

In late May, TMA members were briefed on manufacturing related actions of the Illinois General Assembly. The update was provided by TMA lobbyist Jay Shattuck, who was joined by Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin.

Just prior to the update, state lawmakers returned home expecting to reconvene to discuss an all-important energy bill expected to include over $600 million in Exelon Corporation subsidies the company says is needed to keep several Exelon nuclear plants from closing.

FY 2022 STATE BUDGET
Controlling party lawmakers chose not to release any information about the proposed FY 2022 State Budget
until 24 hours before the May 31 scheduled adjournment.
The final budget – SB 2800 – was nearly 3100 pages long. Changes that will directly affect TMA members include:

• Restricting the use of corporate net operating losses to $100,000 per year for any taxable year ending on or after December 31, 2021 and prior to December 31, 2024.

• Decoupling from federal tax bonus depreciation (100 percent expensing – Illinois had previously coupled from bonus depreciation of less than 100 percent expensing).
• Eliminating the phase-out of the Franchise Tax
• Requiring an addback for taxable years ending on or after June 30, 2021 of GILTI (the deduction allowed under IRC Section 250(a)(1)(B)(i))) and an amount equal to the deduction allowed under IRC Section 243(e) (certain dividends received from foreign corporations) and IRC Section 245A (deduction for foreign source-portion of dividends received by domestic corporations from specified 10 percent owned foreign corporations).

More on the 2021 Legislative Update 

From May/June 2021 TMA News Bulletin 

​SPRINGFIELD - Several statewide business and retail organizations - including the Technology & Manufacturing Association - signed onto a letter to Governor JB Pritzker this week, calling on him to end enhanced unemployment benefits and reinstate the work-seeking requirements required in the past.

“Illinois employers of all types and sizes are struggling to attract needed employees resulting in reduced hours and lost sales,” the group featuring manufacturing, construction, and retail associations said in a letter. “Those lost sales directly impact the budgets of the state and units of local government. Before we lose any more economic ground, now is the time to reinstate normal unemployment insurance operations, including work search requirements, and benefit levels.”

TMA Executive Vice President Dennis LaComb explained why manufacturers signed onto the letter. 

"Illinois manufacturers are telling us month after month that one of their biggest concerns - if not the biggest - is finding skilled team members," LaComb said. "They are saying that the shortage of applicants is actually keeping their businesses from returning to pre-COVID levels, and Governor Pritzker can change that easily." 

LaComb said he agreed wholeheartedly with the Illinois Retail Merchants Association CEO Rob Karr's comment in The Center Square where he said “The faster that everyone’s back in the workforce, the faster Illinois recovers and hopefully gets back to pre-pandemic performance."

The Center Square reports the letter was signed by Illinois Manufacturers' Association, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Associated General Contractors of IL, National Federation of Independent Business, Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, Technology & Manufacturing Association, Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., Illinois Automobile Dealers Association, Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, Automotive Parts & Service Association of IL, Illinois Lumber and Material Dealers Association and Illinois Fuel & Retail Association, among others.

SCHAUMBURG - The overwhelming majority of small and mid-sized manufacturers in the Chicago area - once the most vital and crucial manufacturing regions in the United States - was surprised to learn that the Illinois General Assembly voted this year to place on the 2022 General Election ballot a question that would ban right-to-work laws. 

The effort is a majority victory for public and private sector labor unions in a state that has never allowed right-to-work laws for employers and could be the basis for imposing yet more union demands on non-union shops. 

The Technology & Manufacturing Association based in Schaumburg, Illinois conducted a survey last month among members that asked a question about how aware their members were of a question on the 2022 General Election ballot that has to do with the direction the state's businesses will take on union issues in the days to come. 

The proposed right to work amendment would provide that employees have a “fundamental right” to organize and engage in collective bargaining over wages, hours and working conditions. It would also prohibit the state or any local government from enacting so-called “right-to-work” laws, which prohibit contracts that make union membership a condition of employment.

Of 130 responders, only 18% said they were aware of this addition to the Illinois State Constitution's Article 1 Bill of Rights being proposed on the 2022 General Election ballot: 
​
SECTION 25. WORKERS' RIGHTS
(a) Employees shall have the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work. No law shall be passed that interferes with,negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and work place safety, including any law or ordinance that prohibits the execution or application of agreements between employers and labor organizations that represent employees requiring membership in an organization as a condition of employment. 
(b) The provisions of this Section are controlling over those of Section 6 of Article VII.