By Frank Spotorno with Dan Murphy
Twenty-five years ago, I started an organization called Bring Our Jobs Home, in an attempt to highlight the millions of American jobs that were being sent overseas by many of our U.S. Corproations seeking to enlarge their profits by paying workers one-tenth of what a decent American employee gets paid. Most of these jobs went to China, and stayed there.
In 2021, we are seeing a problem with our supply chain from China, and troubles getting goods shipped overseas to our supermarkets, pharmacies and almost any other store of item you can think of. As all of us find it harder to find our favorite items, or a new appliance, I have used this time to renew my call to buy American made products, but also products from my home state of New York.
I recently watched a video posted about Sherrill Manufacturing in Oneida County NY. They make silverware products and flatware under the name Liberty Tabletop, and they are the only remaining flatware manufacturer not only in New York State, but across the country.
I want to give credit for highlighting this company to Rob Astorino, who is running for Governor of NY next year. According to Astorino, Sherrill “sales are up 20% this year “thanks” to the supply chain crisis slowing flatware imports from China and Vietnam. Liberty Tabletop offers better quality products and it also sources all of its materials (steel from Pittsburgh and Tennessee and buffing compound from NY and Ohio). It’s a great story and we need to get back to making stuff. The supply chain crisis has showed the value of that and New York must be in position to compete.”
Please visit their website at https://www.libertytabletop.com/shop/ and try to do some of your Holiday shopping with an American made company, and if possible, a company making it here in my homestate of New York.
If you take a look at Sherrill-Liberty you will see that the cost of their flatware and silverware is not cheap. But it will last you a lifetime, plus you will be helping keep someone in NY employed and working. This is an argument that I have talked about for four decades now, that we have to get back to paying a little bit more for high quality, American made products, and get off the addiction to buying everything dirt cheap at Wallmart or the $5 Dollar store.
And as we can see by the supply chain problem, if the product you want to buy is stuck in the port of Los Angeles in a container, its time to explore other options to buy the prodcuts that we want and need.
And how many products can we all think of that we should be making here in the USA and in NY? Let’s start with PPE, so that we have enough masks and gloves and protective items for the next pandemic. Next, how about making our generic medicines here?
As Astorino travels around upstate New York, he will see the hundreds of old factories in small towns that we can easily re-open, employ thousands of workers, and have a reliable chain of prodcuts. It can be done and its time to start making it here and bring our jobs home.
Frank Spotorno was a candidate for Congress in the 14th District of NY in 2016. He manufactured elevator cabs in New York City for more than 30 years.
