Swingline is a division of ACCO Brands Corporation that specializes in manufacturing staplers and hole punches. From its foundation in 1925, the company was located in Long Island City, Queens, New York, United States, until the plant was moved to Nogales, Mexico, in 1999.
History
thumb|The Swingline 747 Rio Red
thumb|The Swingline Commercial Desk Stapler
thumb|A staple remover
thumb|1970s box of Swingline TOT 50 chisel-pointed staples, priced at 29 cents.
Swingline was founded in 1925 in New York City by Jack Linsky. At that time, it was known as the Parrot Speed Fastener Company and opened its first manufacturing facilities on Varick Street, and in Long Island City in 1931. The design of this stapler, called the "Swingline" in 1935,
For decades, the Swingline sign on the Long Island City building, measuring 60 feet high and 50 feet wide, became a local landmark visible to travelers on highways and trains between Manhattan and Long Island.
In 1999, Acco closed Swingline's Long Island City plant, which it had occupied for fifty years, and moved production to Nogales, Mexico. About 450 workers lost their jobs. At the time, it was the largest single job loss in the city caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement. When the closing was announced in 1997, Acco was criticized by New York's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who said the city could do without a company that did not want to pay workers an adequate wage.