CLICK TO HEAR TOM HILL’S INTERVIEW WITH LT. GOV. GILCHRIST
Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchirst is spending some time in the Upper Peninsula, visiting small businesses and getting feedback on how the state can help them rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. Orion Hunting Products of Iron Mountain was selected as One of the Coolest things Made In Michigan by the Michigan Manufacturing Association and that’s why Gilchrist took a tour there on Tuesday.
“This company, and the product, are amazing,” Gilchrist (D-Detroit) said. “It’s a quintessential example of the brains and the manufacturing muscle that exists here in the State of Michigan. I mean, this was a garage five years ago. Now, we have this amazing facility here. They’re shipping all across the country. They just got their first international order. It’s a patented technology. It shows the kind of ingenuity that exists in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and it’s the kind of thing we want to see in northern Michigan. That’s why we’re proud that the MEDC is supporting a small business like this.”
Radio Results Network’s Tom Hill asked Gilchrist about the severe worker shortage that businesses of all kinds continue to experience in the U.P., and across the country. Much of the blame has been placed on the extra unemployment benefits that people received for more than a year (on top of regular benefits). That money ran out last month, but understaffing continues.
“We are encouraged to see that businesses are continuing to be aggressive in recruiting people to get back into the workforce,” Gilchrist said. “One thing the governor and I have been focused on is removing the barriers that might be standing between people and getting back into the workforce. That’s why we’ve made some significant investments at the state level to try to create incentives and pathways for it. The one thing we heard across the state, especially from women in our workforce, is that access to child care is a real problem.”
Gilchrist was also scheduled on Tuesday to visit CCI Systems, and took a tour of a M-DOT bridge project along US-2 near Powers.
The lieutenant governor plans to tour more businesses in Marquette on Wednesday.
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