Budget includes training center for manufacturer heading to Pooler (Savannah: appointed, 2015)

[Airforceguy]

Supposedly, Volvo may be coming to the site. If not it will be used as a tool to attract a manufacturer to the site.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill told his colleagues, before they voted 55-1 for the budget, that Gov. Nathan Deal convinced the conference committee in recent days to take some of the $100 million in bonds earmarked for mass transit and use it instead for the training center near the Pooler plant. Another $5 million will go toward an economic-development program used to provide other financial incentives.

“We’re all reading in the newspaper about various proposed projects that may or may not come to Georgia,” said Hill, R-Reidsville.

But he said the regional training center will be near what the state calls a megasite in Pooler, which has been marketed to several carmakers in the two decades since it was assembled.

His House counterpart said it was an emergency appropriation but corrected himself.

“We’ve got a lot of good things going on on the coast down there, and hopefully we’ve got more coming,” said House Appropriations Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn.

Budget includes training center for manufacturer heading to Pooler | savannahnow.com

[WanderingImport]

Having a specialized training center will be good for the site, but I'm extremely disappointed that Deal would go so low as to suggest taking money from the transit fund. They're both extremely important.

Fingers crossed Volvo takes up some of that mega site space and that jobs are in the thousands.

[Airforceguy]

My fingers are crossed as well. It seems companies are always looking at this site, but never pull the trigger. I hope this time is different.

[bellhead]

Would be great to see Volvo come in as it would be local pay rates up.

Pay at auto plants for assembly is around $23 to 27 an hour plus bennies on the same level as the UAW.

[pink caddy]

Are there any trades (high schools) in Sav/Ga.? ie;/aircraft, electrical, carpentry...or they go out with hi button shoes?

[WanderingImport]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

Are there any trades (high schools) in Sav/Ga.? ie;/aircraft, electrical, carpentry...or they go out with hi button shoes?

Johnson specializes in robotics/engineering. Not sure what the other schools do.

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

Are there any trades (high schools) in Sav/Ga.? ie;/aircraft, electrical, carpentry...or they go out with hi button shoes?

Probably nothing like they have in the midwest, and I don't think they have a voctech school in Savannah.

[pink caddy]

I think that a flaw in our system these days. We don't need anymore IT guys. We need guys that can fix an airplane engine, make a fine piece of furniture, wire complex building structures, and know how to fix the mechanics of all sorts of things down at the port.

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

I think that a flaw in our system these days. We don't need anymore IT guys. We need guys that can fix an airplane engine, make a fine piece of furniture, wire complex building structures, and know how to fix the mechanics of all sorts of things down at the port.

There are people out there who can do these things, they just make $$'s and employers whine about it all the time. So they always bring it up that they don't have people who can do this locally.

We still need a ton of IT guys, the US is importing more than 250k H1B visa holders every year.

High school only prepares you to be able to learn complex skills these days. A large majority of the jobs outside of the service industry require an advanced skill set which takes years to build. This includes both formal and OJT training plus hands on experience. Take telecommunications which traditionally was a job that had multiple layers of workers who started do "simple" residential phone installation to 15 years later they worked on equipment which involved large office buildings. The bell system built up your skill set with both OJT and formal education.

[bellhead]

Also wanted to add if Volvo comes and they bring 2k to 3k jobs we are looking at a net increase in total jobs of 20k to 30k because of what heavy manufacturing brings to an area in a pure economic sense. This would heat the job market up and bring the housing market out of the slump big time...

My brother works at Honda of America as an engine assembly line worker and their top pay is right around $26 an hour with medical/dental plus pension/401k. The jobs are very demanding and only about 1 in 8 workers sticks thru a full year because of this.