By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director US Senator Bob Casey visited Zippo today and, after taking a tour of the plant, he talked with employees about taking steps to protect companies like Zippo. He says passing the small business jobs bill is critically important, as is keeping companies like Zippo from continuing to be victims of international piracy, most of which is in China. He said foreign competition and trade issues have hit Pennsylvania hard. He said since 2001, 95,000 jobs have been lost in Pennsylvania because illegal activities in China. Before the tour of the plant, Zippo president and CEO Greg Booth told Casey the company spends more money than it should have to in order to protect itself from piracy. “We are a billion dollar brand, if you will. We’re not a billion dollar company,” Booth said. “So in order to protect this huge brand that’s well known across the globe. We spend an inordinate amount of money to do that.” “We’re a smaller company so it’s a bigger percentag...
