- National Association of Manufacturers
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National Association of Manufacturers 
Type Advocacy Founded 1895 Location Washington D.C. Key people Jay Timmons, President & CEO Area served 
United StatesFocus Manufacturing and Small Business Advocacy Motto Leading Innovation, Creating Opportunity, Pursuing Progress Website nam.org The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C. with 10 additional offices across the country. It is the nation’s largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states.[1]
Contents
Mission Statement
The NAM’s stated mission is "to be the voice for all manufacturing in the United States. To inform legislators, the Administration, the media, policy influencers and the public about manufacturing’s vital leadership in innovation, job opportunity, technological progress and economic security. To be a respected and focused partner in achieving an economic environment that encourages the expansion of manufacturing in the United States and strengthens our global leadership".[2]
Policy Issues
The NAM's policy issue work is focused in the areas of labor, employment, health care, energy, climate, corporate finance, tax, bilateral trade, multilateral trade, export controls, technology, regulatory and infrastructure policy.[3] According to Bloomberg, Duke Energy did not renew its membership with the NAM partly because of differences over climate policy.[4]
Board of Directors
The NAM's Board of Directors includes Jay Timmons, NAM President and CEO; Mary Vermeer Andringa, President and CEO, Vermeer Corporation; and Douglas Oberhelman, CEO, Caterpillar Inc.[5]
History
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) website states that the NAM "was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1895. The U.S. was in the midst of a deep recession and many of the nation’s manufacturers saw a strong need to export their products in other countries. One of the NAM’s earliest efforts was to call for the creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce".[6] The organization's first president was Thomas Dolan of Philadelphia [7] (not, as erroneously listed in some sources, Samuel P. Bush).
The early history of NAM was marked by frank verbal attacks on labor. In 1903, then-president David MacLean Parry[8] delivered a speech at its annual convention which argued that unions' goals would result in "despotism, tyranny, and slavery." Parry advocated the establishment of a great national anti-union federation under the control of the NAM, and the NAM responded by initiating such an effort.[9] In an address at its 1911 convention, NAM president John Kirby Jr. proclaimed, "The American Federation of Labor is engaged in an open warfare against Jesus Christ and his cause." [10]
The NAM also encouraged the creation and propagation of a network of local anti-union organizations, many of which took the name Citizens' Alliance.[11] The national Citizens' Alliance entity came to be called the Citizens' Industrial Alliance.
NAM used pioneering public relations expert Edward Bernays in the 1930s to promote the benefits of capitalism, to combat the policies of President Roosevelt. [12] NAM made efforts to undermine organized labor in the United States before the New Deal.[13]
The advent of commercial television led to the NAM's own 15-minute television program, “Industry on Parade,” [14] which first aired in 1950.
Affiliates
The NAM has one affiliate. According to its website [15], the Manufacturing Institute is the 501(c) 3 affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. The Manufacturing Institute describes its priorities as the development of a world-class manufacturing workforce, the growth of individual U.S. manufacturing companies and the expansion of the manufacturing sector in regional economies.
References
- ^ About the NAM - National Association of Manufacturers
- ^ About the NAM - National Association of Manufacturers
- ^ Policy Issues - National Association of Manufacturers
- ^ Duke Energy to Leave Trade Group Over Climate Policy
- ^ NAM Board of Directors
- ^ NAM website's history page
- ^ American industries, Volume 13 By National Association of Manufacturers (U.S.), May 1913, page 33
- ^ For more on Parry and his views, see The Scarlet Empire.
- ^ Colorado's War on Militant Unionism, James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners, George G. Suggs, Jr., 1972, page 66-67.
- ^ Violations of free speech and assembly and interference with rights of labor: hearings before a subcommittee, Seventy-fourth Congress, second session, on S. Res. 266, a resolution to investigate violations of the right of free speech and assembly and interference with the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively. April 10-11, 14-17, 21, 23, 1936
- ^ Colorado's War on Militant Unionism, James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners, George G. Suggs, Jr., 1972, page 67-68.
- ^ Press professionalization and propaganda: the rise of journalistic double ... By Burton St. John, page 12
- ^ LJ Griffin, ME Wallace, and BA Rubin. 1986. "Capitalist Resistance to the Organization of Labor Before the New Deal: Why? How? Success?" American Sociological Review. 51:2:147-67.
- ^ National Archives
- ^ Manufacturing Institute
External links
Categories:- Industry trade groups based in the United States
- Manufacturing in the United States
- 1895 establishments in the United States
- Lobbying organizations based in Washington, D.C.
- History of labor relations in the United States
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