Solvay paper mill, other manufacturers rely on state-funded apprenticeship program to fill jobs
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LOCALSYR.COM: Solvay paper mill, other manufacturers rely on state-funded apprenticeship program to fill jobs
SOLVAY, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — State Senator John Mannion continued his tour of his district celebrating the newly-passed state budget by visiting WestRock on Milton Avenue in Solvay Thursday.
WestRock is a paper mill that takes in paper waste that ends up in recycling bins on the side of the road and produces new paper to be made into boxes mainly seen in the grocery store.
Mannion’s focus at WestRock was to tout the state budget including $750,000 for another round of an apprenticeship program that offers lesser-skilled workers on-the-job training in trades like electric and mechanics.
WestRock has 16 openings for technicians and other manufacturing companies are struggling to find enough skilled tradespeople as their older staff retires.
Senator Mannion says there are as many as 1,500 of these kinds of jobs open across Central New York.