Retraining programs good for all involved

The June 3 article in The Gazette's Business 380 section on manufacturers pushing certification for skilled workers hits a home run.

As a machinist for more than 30 years and a business owner for almost 20 years, I understand the difficulty in finding skilled workers. Our high schools have steadily eliminated industrial arts classes and are pointing students toward four-year colleges. Today's industrial technology and computer skills can be challenging.

Two years ago, I was hired to teach high school juniors and seniors basic machine shop and CNC machining at Kirkwood's Jones Regional Education Center in Monticello. The Career Academy gives students from eight school districts around Monticello a chance to try classes that show different skills needed for today's job market. They have welding, auto tech, basic and CNC machining, and other classes for jobs that don't require four years of college.

Last fall, I was invited to the president's job council conference in Minneapolis. There they introduced the Right Skills Now program, which gives unemployed people a chance at retraining for manufacturing jobs. Two technical colleges in Minnesota are doing the Right Skills Now program, which is 14 weeks of classroom study in math, blueprint reading and the basics in computerized numerical control machining, then three weeks apprenticeship at a manufacturing facility. Last fall around Minneapolis, there were more than 400 job openings for machinists with an average starting wage of $37,000 plus benefits.

Kirkwood is trying to duplicate this with a retraining class for layed-off Georgia Pacific employees in Monticello.

Kevin Boyens

Marion