Another Voice: The Green Transit, Green Jobs bill can boost New York manufacturing
Zero-emission bus manufacturer Nova Bus recently announced the closure of its Plattsburgh facility. As one of the top five major private manufacturing companies in the area, Nova Bus anchors the North country’s manufacturing cluster.
With over 350 employees poised to lose their jobs, and eight to 10 major bus component suppliers doing business with Nova Bus, the closure highlights the wide impact on communities and businesses when a major manufacturer leaves.
This closure reflects the ongoing decline of the state’s manufacturing sector, which once created good middle-class jobs but has been decimated over the decades. After a peak of 1.6 million manufacturing workers in the mid-’70s, New York’s thriving industrial belt turned into a rust belt, with less than half that number currently employed in the sector.