Elbridge, NY – An Elbridge electronics company whose work includes defense contracts soon will hire armed service veterans under a program that helps returning vets. Northeastern Electronics Co. Inc., 102 state Route 5 W., Elbridge, plans to hire 10 returning warriors beginning this month and continuing into July, said Doug Hirsh, the company’s operations manager. The company is working with...
Elbridge, NY – An Elbridge electronics company whose work includes defense contracts soon will hire armed service veterans under a program that helps returning vets.
Northeastern Electronics Co. Inc., 102 state Route 5 W., Elbridge, plans to hire 10 returning warriors beginning this month and continuing into July, said Doug Hirsh, the company’s operations manager.
The company is working with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County in the effort, Hirsh said. Cooperative Extension oversees “A Different Shade of Green,” a program that provides job preparation for up to 120 low-income veterans, up to 30 percent of whom were wounded.
A news conference with Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the factory to discuss the program and the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act. Under that legislation, sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, companies such as Northeastern Electronics that hire people who have been out of work 60 days or more do not have to pay Social Security taxes on those employees.
Different Shades of Green also is at least partially funded by federal Recovery Act monies, said Abigail Gardner, speaking for Maffei.
Northeastern Electronics makes wire and harness assemblies for military and commercial customers. Its defense contracts have included making cables for radio-controlled devices that jam roadside bombs of the type used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The new workers could do anything from running crimping machines to soldering to building cables, Hirsh said. They would make between $8 and $12 an hour depending on experience, he said.
They’ll join a work force that currently ranges between 50 and 60 workers following a recent layoff that accompanied the end of a contract, Hirsh said. Company officials hope to recall some of those laid-off workers, too, he said.