Associated Industries of Missouri is pleased Gov. Nixon is calling for a special session to put Missouri at a better competitive stance for the production of the 777x aircraft by Boeing, but wants an economic development package to include a provision that provides for high-tech training, that would apply to workers in advanced manufacturing, information technology, and other highly technical fields.
“We believe Missouri should do whatever is necessary to compete for as much of the work on the Boeing project as we can possibly secure,” says AIM President Ray McCarty. “But this is an opportunity for Missouri to also address needs of our existing Missouri employers to train workers in highly technical and often confidential and proprietary processes. Allowing job training money in these situations to be used to pay trainers that are on staff and possess the unique skills needed to operate machinery that can only be learned ‘on the job’ is crucial for this project as well as other rapidly expanding employment programs in other high tech fields.”
McCarty says Associated Industries will introduce legislation that will allow employers to address the training need in highly skilled and technical areas and hopes legislators will embrace the idea as part of any incentive package that is considered during the special session, which begins today, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m.
“This is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and help every employer in the state that must train large numbers of new employees on highly technical and proprietary machines, while making Missouri more competitive in the global marketplace for this project, existing projects in the manufacturing and information technology fields, and new opportunities for jobs in the future,” McCarty says.
