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Senator Santorum Celebrates with Employees at Sony Technology Center the Passage of His Legislation to Save More Than 2,000 Jobs in Pennsylvania
September 5, 2006
Mount Pleasant, PA – U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, was at the Sony Technology Center in Mount Pleasant today to hold a town hall meeting with employees to celebrate passage of his legislation that will save more than 2,000 jobs at the Westmoreland County Sony facility.
“The legislation Senator Santorum managed on our behalf is critically important to the future of our television manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania. We are very appreciative of his efforts and welcome him to the Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh,” Chuck Gregory, Deputy President, Television Operations of America, Sony Electronics Inc. and President of the Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh.
The Sony Technology Center in Mount Pleasant manufactures advanced display televisions. Currently, key components that are used to manufacture these televisions in the United States face a tariff when they are imported into this country. This adds to the price of the product and places it at a competitive disadvantage versus foreign manufactured televisions.
In response to the tariffs and serious concerns from Sony about keeping jobs in Pennsylvania, Senator Santorum introduced legislation in both the 108th Congress and the 109th Congress to temporarily suspend the tariffs and improve the ability of the Sony manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant to stay globally competitive as a manufacturer of advanced display televisions. This legislation was included and passed as a part of the Pension Protection Act.
“The provision contained in this legislation will save 2,800 direct jobs, and will enable the company to hire hundreds of additional workers. The provision will also benefit the economy of Western Pennsylvania as many indirect jobs – perhaps thousands – will be maintained by keeping this plant open. This is an example of Congress stepping in to make sure that good, high-paying jobs are not outsourced to Mexico,” stated Senator Santorum.
Earlier in the day Senator Santorum was part of an award presentation for Catalyst Connection of Pittsburgh. Catalyst Connection is the recipient of the Excellence in Economic Development Award which recognizes innovative economic development strategies of national significance.
On April 3, 2006, Senator Santorum sent a letter to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development extolling the virtues of Catalyst Connection as a nominee for the Economic Development Administration’s award for Excellence in Economic Development. Two months later, on May 31, 2006, Sandy K. Baruah, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, announced the winners of the EDA Excellence in Economic Development Awards 2006.
“I am pleased to join in presenting this award to Catalyst Connection. Through the efforts of Catalyst Connection, they have helped small- and medium-sized manufacturers integrate state-of-the-art manufacturing processes and practices, Catalyst Connection helped its manufacturing firms increase their sales by nearly $48 million, while decreasing unnecessary expenditures by almost $3.5 million. More importantly, those manufacturers reported the retention and creation of more than 1,035 jobs for the southwestern Pennsylvania economy,” said Senator Santorum.
“We have been very grateful that Senator Santorum has recognized the value that our organization, Catalyst Connection, brings to the southwestern Pennsylvania region’s manufacturers. His support in earning the EDA’s Award of Excellence, as well as his support on Capitol Hill for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program will continue to allow us to make a positive impact on individual manufacturers’ operations, as well as to enhance our regional economy,” said Steven G. Zylstra, President and Chief Executive officer of Catalyst Connection.
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