In Call to Northrop Grumman CEO, Schumer, Gillibrand and Israel Push Company to Keep Jobs on Long Island By Moving Manufacturing to a Long Island Firm, and Not Out-of-State

Press Release

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Representative Steve Israel yesterday called Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush urging him to explore all options to keep their manufacturing operation and the jobs that come with it on Long Island. Schumer, Gillibrand, and Israel specifically asked Mr. Bush to identify a local company on Long Island to subcontract Northrop Grumman's manufacturing to, keeping production of radar and surveillance tracking products on the Island and at the same time helping to keep local workers employed.

Their call comes after yesterday's announcement that Northrop Grumman plans to shut down their Melville manufacturing facility, laying off approximately 59 workers in the process, and moving another 47 management workers to their Bethpage facility. The layoffs are set to begin in September and end in mid-2012. On their call with Northrop Grumman's CEO, Schumer, Gillibrand and Israel pressed Bush to come up with a solution to preserve these jobs by transferring the positions to another firm on Long Island so the positions to keep locals employed.

"As a recipient of billions of dollars in defense contracts, Northrop Grumman has a responsibility to find a way to save these jobs for Long Island," said Schumer. "The company has an obligation to do everything in its power to find a way to keep these hard working Long Island residents employed, on the Island. I pledge to work with the company to do so, but it must consider every option for maintaining manufacturing and employment right here."

"Northrop Grumman must consider all options in order to keep the invaluable experience and expertise that our Long Island workers have. The company needs to go back to the drawing board and find a way to save dozens of manufacturing jobs on the Island. I will continue to fight to get New York's manufacturing businesses back on track and keep jobs right here at home," said Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"As soon as I heard about Northrop Grumman's decision on the Melville plant, I organized a call so that together with Senators Schumer and Gillibrand we could ensure everything is being done for the plant employees. Since some of the work will now be subcontracted, there is no reason why it shouldn't be subcontracted to one of the many capable firms on Long Island. Long Island has a long and important history with Northrop Grumman and I look forward to continuing that relationship," said Rep. Israel

The Melville plant focuses on Spook 9 weapons, shipboard radar units that are built for amphibious ships, as well as other radar work. Northrop-Grumman is a major high technology employer on Long Island, employing approximately 1,650 employees and infuses more than $4.5 million in property taxes into the tax base and $160M in gross payroll on Long Island. Northrop-Grumman has been on Long Island for 80 years, and today Schumer, Gillibrand, and Israel urged them to continue their long-standing commitment to area by preserving these jobs.

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