Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Keeps Promises to Employees
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Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company is a 120-year-old, fifth-generation family-owned business—and it tries to treat its employees like family, too.
“We have a long tradition and history of taking care of our associates,” said Charlotte Pipe Vice President of Marketing Bradford Muller. “We haven’t had a layoff since the early 1980s. Even in the Great Recession, we kept people working as many hours as we could give them.”
When the 2017 tax reform law gave Charlotte Pipe more certainty, the company passed along the good fortune, supporting employees, adding new jobs and investing in the future of the business.
New bonuses: When the legislation passed, Charlotte Pipe gave every employee an additional bonus of $1,000. Over the past few years, it has continued to offer high wages and generous health benefits to its associates as well as contributing to the company’s 401(k) plan. Charlotte Pipe has also absorbed a large portion of the increases in the health care costs of its workers.
New jobs: Tax reform has also allowed Charlotte Pipe to bring on new workers. Since the law passed, the company has hired more than 200 associates as it increases production across the country.
New business: Charlotte Pipe is also investing in its future by building a new foundry, which will create new jobs in its surrounding community. In addition to making the company more efficient and effective, the new cutting-edge foundry will help it keep up with international competitors from places like China. Muller credits tax reform with making that investment possible.
- “The certainty around tax reform and regulatory reform gave us the confidence to be able to proceed with this once-in-a-century, $350 million foundry,” said Muller. “It’s a huge financial commitment, and we needed policy certainty to be able to do that. That was one of the reasons we were able to launch that project.”
Ongoing investment: The foundry may be the biggest example of a capital investment, but it is by no means the only one. In fact, Charlotte Pipe reinvests most of its profits back into the business, allowing it to keep working, innovating and providing new jobs.
- “We reinvest most of our profits into capital projects,” said Muller. “The more revenue we have, the more people we can hire, the more equipment we can buy and the more productive we can be.”
The last word: “When tax reform helps a business provide for its employees and create opportunity well into its second century, you know that reform is worth keeping,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “Manufacturers like Charlotte Pipe are building on the foundation of tax reform, and their workers are prospering because of it. That’s why we need to protect against potentially harmful tax hikes.”
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Manufacturers Unveil Competitiveness Agenda Ahead of Midterm Elections
“Competing to Win” offers a path for bringing the country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose
Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the midterm elections, the National Association of Manufacturers released its policy roadmap, “Competing to Win,” a comprehensive blueprint featuring immediate solutions for bolstering manufacturers’ competitiveness. It is also a roadmap for policymakers on the laws and regulations needed to strengthen the manufacturing industry in the months and years ahead.
With the country facing rising prices, snarled supply chains and geopolitical turmoil, manufacturers are outlining an actionable competitiveness agenda that Americans across the political spectrum can support. “Competing to Win” includes the policies manufacturers in America will need in place to continue driving the country forward.
“‘Competing to Win’ offers a path for bringing our country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “The NAM is putting forward a plan filled with ideas that policymakers could pursue immediately, including solutions to urgent problems, such as energy security, immigration reform, supply chain disruptions, the ongoing workforce shortage and more. Manufacturers have shown incredible resilience through difficult times, employing more workers now than before the pandemic, but continued resilience is not guaranteed without the policies that are critical to the state of manufacturing in America.”
The NAM and its members will leverage “Competing to Win” to shape policy debates ahead of the midterm elections, in the remainder of the 117th Congress and at the start of the 118th Congress—including in direct engagement with lawmakers, for grassroots activity, across traditional and digital media and through events in key states and districts as we did following the initial rollout of the roadmap in 2016.
The document focuses on 12 areas of action, and all policies are rooted in the values that have made America exceptional and keep manufacturing strong: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.
Learn more about how manufacturers are leading and about the industry’s competitiveness agenda at nam.org/competing-to-win.
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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12.8 million men and women, contributes $2.77 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 58% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org
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