Governor Robert Bentley visits Athens Alabama’s Turner Medical Precision Machining
ATHENS – When the Legislature is not in session, one of Governor Robert Bentley’s favorite pastimes is finding out what more can be done to improve economic conditions for Alabama businesses and workers. These trips are what Bentley calls his, “Road To Economic Recovery Tour.” He said that he would not take a paycheck until Alabama reached full employment. Evidently, the Governor is working hard to get paid.
Thursday, Bentley was in Athens where he first met with some members of the Limestone County Chamber of Commerce. From there, it was on to TR Electrical; then to Turner Medical Precision Machining. His discussions are highly focused on the economic issues that are the pivot point between a company’s success, or the lack thereof.
The talks and tours were to help Bentley increase his understanding of the challenges that face Northwest Alabama companies. The Governor held discussions at TR Electrical and Turner Medical Precision Machining dealing with workforce supply. The Governor’s spokesperson, Jeremy King illustrated. “With TR Electrical, they need more electricians to perform the work for which there is already a large existing demand. The electricians have a skilled trade and, quite frankly, a well paying skilled trade. As a state, we want to make sure that we are supporting the skilled trades and supporting workforce development so that more students understand the good and well paying options that are available to them here at home that may not require a 4 year degree. However they do require skilled training in specific vocational instruction such as math and science. These careers are very important.”
The Governor talked about his new task force, “The Governor’s College and Career-Ready Task Force.” This is something that Bentley established in January of this year (2013) to connect business owners and other business leaders with educators in K through 12, from community colleges and from 4-year colleges. The effort brings these people to the table to insure they communicate about what types of skills are needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Bentley told the Quad-Cities Daily, “I want to ensure that educators are providing those sorts of programs for their students. The business community can provide guidance and feedback on what they need. The educators can then use their expertise to custom-tailor programs to teach the K-12 students; the 2-year and 4-year college students.”
1 comment
While Bentley may tout the merits of training for electricians, as a republican he wants to make sure they are not fairly paid by busting union representation. His “road to recovery” will be littered with the sick and dying thanks to his refusal to accept the free medicaid funds available for the poor and untrained. And God forbid even if they DO get training to be a skilled worker, if they get sick during the training period, they will forever be saddled with debt due to hospital bills. GREAT JOB BENTLEY!