'A happy problem'
Cabinet secretary announces state manufacturing grant
MILFORD – In an effort to strengthen Massachusetts’ manufacturing labor force, State Secretary for Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki announced a $747,000 grant to the MacWic program at Waters Corp. Thursday.
“We have a happy problem,” he said to a room full of manufacturing hire-ups and state politicians.
“Our businesses need a skilled workforce to keep up with their growth. If this is all the industry needs, it’s the least the government can do.”
MacWic – The Manufacturing Advancement Center Workforce Innovation Collaborative – is an employer-led initiative aimed at creating a uniform certification and curriculum for prospective workers in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Currently, 17 out of 34 vocational schools in the state employ the curriculum.
The grant, spread over two years, will go toward expanding the MacWic program statewide.
The manufacturing industry faces a “pig in the python” as the baby boomer generation begins to retire, said Tom Wesley, chair of MacWic’s steering committee.
The pipeline from schools and other sectors to manufacturing needs refurbishing, he said.
The MacWic program makes attaining proper training easier for prospective employees and allows employers to “look at a diploma and know the candidate has the proper training,” he said.
There are 7,000 manufacturing businesses, large and small, employing people in Massachusetts, he said.
The growth of the industry represents a re-shoring of jobs to America, he said.
“Massachusetts is getting more than its fair share,” he said.
Advanced manufacturing jobs allow people a change of career path from one paying minimum wage to one that “changes their lives, and gives them the ability to have a career,” said Bialecki.
Representative John Fernandes, D- Milford, spoke before the group, thanking the governor’s office for addressing manufacturing in its final months.
“I’m glad to see as this administration wraps up, they still recognize the need for this,” he said.
Bill Shaner can be reached at 508-634-7582 or at wshaner@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bshaner_MDN.
