Schumer Pushes SUNY Proposal for Onondaga Community College to Address the Jobs-Skills Mismatch

Press Release

Today, on the manufacturing floor at Byrne Dairy in Syracuse, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer pushed to secure federal funding to establish a program at Onondaga Community College (OCC) that would re-train local veterans and unemployed persons to work in places like Byrne Dairy, and throughout the Central New York Region, in the growing field of mechatronics. Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field that incorporates engineering, mechanics, electronics, and other technical work. According to SUNY, the field of mechatronics is rapidly growing, and Central New York could create over 2,800 jobs in the industry by 2020, however there are not enough people trained in this field to make these potential jobs a reality. Schumer said that OCC and other community colleges in the region could help address this jobs-skills mismatch, and the Senator pushed for federal funding to help get a proposed program off the ground at OCC that would help train veterans and those who have been laid off in the mechatronics field. Schumer noted that this program would create a direct jobs pipeline to Byrne Dairy, Gear Motions, Corso's Cookies, and Morse Manufacturing Co. Schumer said that SUNY has applied for federal funding through the Department of Labor to get this job-training program off the ground, and he is urging the U.S. Secretary of Labor to carefully consider and approve SUNY's application to bring this promising initiative to Central New York.

"This program would be a win-win-win for Onondaga Community College, local businesses looking to hire workers in the growing field of mechatronics, and our veterans, unemployed, and adult learners who are looking to break into a highly-skilled, innovative and well-paying field," said Schumer. "I feel strongly that this program -- and the potential 2,800 local jobs it could help fill -- would have a tremendous impact on Onondaga County and the entire Central New York economy, and that is why I am pushing the U.S. Department of Labor to carefully consider and approve SUNY's application for federal funding to get this program off the ground. Employers around the region have made it clear that they are looking to hire people with advanced manufacturing backgrounds, but there are not enough people with the skills to fit the bill. That is why we need to get this program up and running, because there are many people out of work right here in Central New York who would jump at the opportunity to get the skills they need to fill some of these open positions."

Schumer explained that OCC is one of the 30 SUNY schools across New York State that have joined together to submit an application for $15 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program. This TAACCCT program funding would be used to establish a system-wide program that would train veterans and those who have been laid off in the field of mechatronics, which incorporates electrical, mechanical, computer and industrial engineering. Schumer explained that OCC and these other SUNY schools would then be able to train over 1,200 eligible Upstate New York workers in two-year programs to prepare them for careers in mechatronics and advanced manufacturing. Specifically, OCC would receive $517,060 in funding to start up the program on its campus.

Potential fields for these workers include maintenance/repair workers, industrial machinery mechanics, technical sales representatives, electrical and electronics industry technicians; and inspectors, testers, sorters, and weighers. Schumer noted that these jobs can pay up to $34 an hour in some cases.

According to SUNY, the field of mechatronics is a rapidly growing industry and there are nearly 13,000 mechatronics job openings projected to be created across all of New York State between 2010 and 2020. Within this 10-year time period, over 2,800 mechatronics jobs are expected to be created in the Central New York region alone. Schumer noted that, according to SUNY, in a recent survey of 162 manufacturing employers in New York State, 97.5 percent indicated that they anticipate growth and/or hiring in the next three to five years. Many businesses around the state, including many partnering with SUNY as part of this program, have indicated a strong need for training mechatronic technicians who are competent, certified, and qualified to work with the complex and extremely expensive machines that populate the modern manufacturing environment. Schumer said that this is an exciting opportunity for veterans, currently unemployed persons, and other adult learners who are looking to break into this field now.

If this funding were awarded, OCC and 30 other SUNY schools would be able to partner with over 70 employers in the advanced manufacturing industry that are looking to hire workers in this highly-skilled career field. The other Central New York community colleges that are a part of the consortium include Cayuga County Community College, Fulton-Montgomery Community College, Herkimer County Community College, and Mohawk Valley Community College. Schumer explained that SUNY has lined up over 70 employers from around New York State that will act as local business partners. These local business partners are looking to expand their workforces and have expressed a need to hire employees with the mechatronics skills and certifications that will be provided in this program.

Some of the employers that OCC will be partnering with are Byrne Dairy in Syracuse, Corso's Cookies in Syracuse, Gear Motions in Syracuse, and Morse Manufacturing Co., Inc. in East Syracuse. Each one of these companies has indicated a willingness to help develop the program, train students and hire qualified graduates. Schumer said that this is an exciting opportunity for veterans, currently unemployed persons, and other adult learners who are looking to break into this field now.

Schumer explained that Byrne Dairy is one of several companies that will be partnering with OCC and providing students in the two-year mechatronics program the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the potential for post-graduate employment. Byrne Dairy is a third generation, family-owned producer and distributor of milk, cream, ice cream, and a variety of other dairy products that hopes to be able to recruit OCC students like those in the mechatronics program as it expands to meet the growing demand for nutritious dairy products. Byrne Dairy, along with many other companies that require employees have technical, engineering, and mechanical skills and the ability to operate intricate machinery, have struggled to find a regional workforce pipeline that would enable available positions to be filled with qualified, local talent. This program, Schumer explained, would seek to remedy this workforce shortage issue. Gear Motions in Syracuse is a leading precision gear manufacturer of both ground and cut gears. Morse Manufacturing Co., Inc. in East Syracuse is a specialty drum-handling equipment manufacturer, providing drum-handling solutions such as hand drum trucks, mobile drum handlers, and forklift attachments. Corso's Cookies is a small hand-decorating cookie company that designs, bakes, decorates, packages and ships thousands of cookies throughout the United States every day from its factory store in Syracuse.

Schumer was joined by Byrne Dairy CEO Carl Byrne, Onondaga Community College President Casey Crabill, Byrne employees, and representatives from the Manufacturers Association of CNY.

"Byrne Dairy is a company that continues to grow and expand across Central New York," said Carl Byrne, President of Byrne Dairy. "With this growth comes the need to add more jobs. Whether it's an employee overseeing quality control or involved with engineering, Byrne Dairy demands and employs the best of the best. Senator Schumer's push to give OCC and the Central New York jobs market a boost will allow us to fill more jobs faster, and, with workers who are ready to hit the ground running. It's crucial for manufactures to work with government and address the skills gap. Senator Schumer is one of our major partners who continues to lead the charge."

Schumer noted that SUNY community colleges have been successful before in receiving this grant. Back in 2012, Schumer worked with 30 community colleges on developing a program called the Training and Education in Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Educational Pathways Project, which eventually received $14.6 million in funding through the TAACCCT program. The TEAM Project has established permanent worker training programs at the 30 community colleges that were part of the consortium in growing fields like nanotechnology and biosciences.

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