National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons speaks Thursday at the RSA Activity Center in downtown Montgomery.

One of the nation’s top manufacturing lobbyists Thursday criticized federal environmental regulations and responded to a report that points to poorer worker wages across the sector.

National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons toured a Hope Hull plant before telling leaders of state companies that Environmental Protection Agency regulations could cost jobs.

“(The EPA’s) regulation of greenhouse gases would limit fuel choice, increase energy prices and make power less reliable,” Timmons said. “Its proposed ozone standard could shut down facilities and force manufacturers to scrap expansion plans — all of which harm growth.”

His group predicted the regulations would mean more than 22,000 “lost jobs or job equivalents” per year.

While the number of Alabama manufacturing jobs have swelled with the booming auto industry, many of those workers struggle to make enough to get by, according to a study of federal data by the pro-labor National Employment Law Project.

It found that while workers at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama and the state’s other auto assembly plants make more than the national average, Alabama auto parts workers are only paid about half as much.

The report pointed to a high reliance on staffing agencies and temporary workers, who often make less.

Timmons said that manufacturing wages across the country are 27 percent higher than other sectors. Still, he said there’s potential for more pay and better salaries if the nation can produce more educated workers.

“There are 600,000 jobs in manufacturing today that are going unfilled because we don’t have folks with the right skills,” Timmons said. “It’s because manufacturing today is completely different from manufacturing of a bygone era. It’s more technology driven and it requires an adherence to the STEM skill sets. We want to see schools start to focus more on the STEM skill sets because we need folks with those skills.”

Central Alabama was Timmons’ final stop in a three-week tour of manufacturing hubs across the nation.

He spoke at the RSA Activity Center in downtown Montgomery before presenting awards to some of the state’s top companies. He also took part in a ceremony honoring Wetumpka robotics students, then marveled at their career aspirations.

“When I was growing up, there wasn’t a premium put on going into manufacturing,” he said. “In fact, I think it was kind of discouraged.”

Does he think those Wetumpka students will be able to find high-wage jobs?

“Yes,” Timmons laughed.

Manufacturer of the Year Awards

Large (more than 400 employees)

North American Lighting, Muscle Shoals

Medium (100-399 employees)

Raytheon Redstone Missile Integration Facility, Huntsville

Small (1 to 99 employees)

Watring Technologies Inc., Huntsville

Full Article: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2015/02/20/manufacturing-leader-defends-wages-blasts-regs/23735225/