According to a local source, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is reportedly going to announce on Monday that Remington plans to move most of the jobs currently in New York to the southern state.
They claim that the historic Ilion plant will remain open, but with a reduced workforce.
Feel kinda bad for those up at Ilion, but this is positive news. Hopefully they’ll start putting out less junk and have better QC on Marlington lever rifles.
Makes me want to go buy an 870.
I saw a different report from yesterday that described it more as Remington expanding into a new plant in Alabama, while still keeping Ilion going strong. Could be PR spin.
Whether it’s accurate to say Big Green’s “leaving” NY will depend on how many positions they pull out of that left-authoritarian cesspit (apologies to the upstaters) and transfer to the free State of Alabama.
Personally, I hope Remington walks out cold. Leave Cuomo a signed FYNQ note on the factory door.
That’s why I put a question mark and reported simply what is coming out of Alabama political sources. Beretta isn’t shutting things down in Maryland, but basically moving all expansion out of the state while continuing to run (for now) things as they have been back at their old factory. I would generally assume that this is what Remington would do, but the claim that they are supposedly getting 2,000 jobs and that the Ilion factory will have a reduced workforce is something closer to a move. Therefore, question mark and simply reporting the political gossip is where this stands for now.
No worries. I was responding more to stuff I’d seen elsewhere.
It’s also possible that the quoted job figure is accurate, but includes a significant number of Remington/FG employees moving to work in the new facility. It’s also possible that they intend to consolidate other FG brands into that factory.
It’s important to remember that Remington isn’t the only brand being manufactured at the Illion NY facility; Last I heard, Bushmaster and Marlin were both there as well.
One of the things that holds Beretta in place is the permitting for things like HAZMAT. One example: many Beretta guns have chromed barrels for durability, longevity, and convenience of cleaning. This has been de rigeur in military weapons for some time (although the M9 was the first US pistol spec’d with a chrome bore). Given EPA, OSHA and their state equivalents, the regulatory burden of setting up that line was probably greater than the problems of finding space, money and capital to do so.
That said, the biggest burden to relocation is always the families of key people.
I did just catch this blog post that simply cites sources close to the property sale as claiming that this will have zero effect on the Ilion plant operations.
It seems a little odd to me that if supposedly high up political sources (the cited sources for the post linked initially) are that drastically far off of the job count and economic impact compared to what the Military Times blogger is saying will happen with an expansion option only, then that could backfire on the perceived economic promises of the administration. I don’t know why they would want to so over-promise and under-deliver in their gossip.
It will be interesting to see what the details are on Monday.
Yeah, that’s the other report I’d seen. We’ll see on Mon.
The local media is also on this story, and they are also going with the alleged 2,000 jobs number. They have a little more detail about how the news started leaking on it.
They highlight that Remington, across all locations, has about 4,200 employees. Having 2,000 in Huntsville is nearly half the workforce, even if you allow for a pretty reasonable expansion of new employees. I find it hard to believe that a number that large won’t impact the number of jobs in New York at all.
As is the Military Times. A bit more reliable than the “Yellow Hammer”…. :-)
http://blogs.militarytimes.com/gearscout/2014/02/14/remington-outdoor-company-to-announce-major-expansion-to-huntsville-alabama/#more
And I already linked that above with additional commentary. Also, that random blog you mock is a political blog focused on local issues, andthe name comes from Alabama’s nickname.
Would serve them right, but I’ll hold off laughing for now. An internet site I’ve never heard of quoting a secret ‘inside source’ is pretty weak.
That said….I hope Remington doesn’t leave New York. I…WANT at least *some* New Yorkers to have some financial skin in the gun game. You don’t win wars by surrendering ground. A complete pull out just plays into Cuomo’s hands.
I’m not convinced totally. While it would follow the trend I just don’t see Remington moving out save the state bulldozing the building they work in in the dead of night.
Given the market in New York, it might just make financial sense to hold onto the property rather than sell it…. Even if it mean a skeleton crew and a dramatic reduction in output. Remington can always reopen it or sell it off at some point in the future.
I think this is like the Baretta expansion outside of MD. originally Baretta had a huge expansion planned for Md. But O’Malley gun control nixed that. Baretta told O’Malley that it would cancel its expansion plans. Baretta is going to stay in Md until the current contract runs out and then maybe shut down Accokeek. They will already have the new plant up and running. Employees can transfer to the newer plant.
Remington got a 80- million contract for the NY plant. They will keep Ilion but slowly workers may move to Alabama if they want and take thier families also. In 10 years Remington may be out of NY totally.
Cuomo is already on the defensive about this expansion/move. His spokesman is denying a single NY job will be lost, but with 2,000 going to Alabama, that seems a bit…lacking in credibility. Republicans are already coming out swinging on this issue since, at the very least, it was 2,000 jobs that could have happened in NY, but didn’t.
And all of this political excitement is happening before the announcement is even made…
Remember, for Dems a lower than planned increase is a “cut” when it comes to funding entitlements, but a lower than potential job expansion is “not a loss” when due to one of their policy choices.
This makes perfect sense from a business perspective. You wouldn’t pull up stakes all at once, that would shut production down while you did. You open new plant and start to build in efficiencies, get the new work force engaged and then transition and adapt to mold-able business model. People in NY who say they will move south now will find reason to move back, family, whatever. Some will stay, some will move back.
Many businesses in California are moving to Texas. They are all doing it a little bit at a time. Not one, with more than 50 employees has picked up and ran. It’s a deliberative process.
I, as others have said, do not think Cuomo cares even a little bit. This is the utopia he seeks of getting rid of people who are pro life and pro gun.
Cuomo cares about his presidential aspirations. He seriously believed that he was on the winning side of the gun control issue and thought the opposition was going to die down shortly after passing SAFE.
He chose *POORLY*.
I’m interested to see how it plays out. Wonder if they might have use for an aero engineer in the place. Might be time for a job change if so…
Aero engineers? Huntsville is the home of the US Rocket Scientists.
If it wasn’t made readily apparent, I am said aero engineer and I live in the Huntsville area :p
Come on down firearms of America.com to the land of common sense. Make sure you leave your liberal ideas behind or we will hang your ass when you arrive.
I think it’s quite funny that the union leaders are whining about the job losses, when they are the ones who consistently exhort union members to vote for the most liberal, anti-gun politicians available. You reap what you sow, dudes.
Fantastic goods from you, man. I have take into
account your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely magnificent.
I really like what you have got right here, certainly like what you’re stating and the way during which
you assert it. You are making it entertaining and you still care
for to keep it sensible. I can not wait to learn far
more from you. This is really a great site.