Maine employs 20,000 workers in the defense industry, at Bath Iron Works, Pratt and Whitney, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and other facilities. Yet a persistent shortage of skilled workers has prompted the formation of the Maine Defense Industry Alliance to fill more than 7,500 positions in the next five years.
Senator Angus King said the country's National Security policy relies on the work of Maine's defense industry, and the mission of the Alliance is to develop and maintain a competitive edge over potential adversaries with a defense workforce trained in the latest technology.
"If you can't build the ships the sailors don't have wherewithal to defend the country. So the people that build the ships are part of the structure of national security," King said.
The Alliance, comprised of Maine's largest defense contractors, the Department of Defense, and educational institutions across the state on Friday unveiled plans for a new 6 and a half million-dollar welding lab at York County Community College in Sanford. Funding from Congress, the Navy's Submarine Industrial Base, and the college is making the ten thousand square foot expansion possible.
U.S. Army veteran Thomas Bailey said training is vital to Mainers like him. Bailey said his life was turned around by a Veterans program in Lewiston that connected him to BIW in November. He's now doing electrical design for the shipbuilder.
"A year ago I was homeless. Now I have apartment in Brunswick. I have a car. I have a future. I'm over the moon," Bailey said.
The Alliance said the goal is to have the new welding lab operational by the summer of 2025.
