A big argument from proponents of bringing a $4.2 billion microchip manufacturing facility to Malta is that it will create jobs for local residents. One state lawmaker would like some more assurances that will be the case, though.
Sen. Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, contacted chipmaker GlobalFoundries on Wednesday, May 20, with a petition to hold a job information fair regarding the upcoming facility, which the company hopes to have running in 2011 with a staff of 1,200, in addition to the labor needed for construction.
According to Travis Bullard, a spokesman for GlobalFoundries, more details about the company’s hiring plans for the facility (known as Fab 2) will develop as the project moves closer to becoming operational, and local residents can look forward to a variety of programs like job fairs, workshops and informational sessions.
`This area’s highly skilled and educated workforce is one of the key reasons we decided to locate this facility in New York, and we anticipate that most of our new workforce for Fab 2 will come from the local area,` said Bullard.
According to GlobalFoundries, once built and running, the fab’s staffing will be approximately 60 percent fab technicians (requiring at least an appropriate two-year degree), 30 percent engineers (requiring a four-year degree), 5 percent management and 5 percent administrative.
McDonald said he would like more details of what skills those jobs will require to be made known, so that residents can begin preparing to become eligible candidates. He says the promise of the chip fab is a shining star in troubled times, and of special interest to those worried about their jobs now.
`People are nervous, and with the exciting news about the technology park, people would love an opportunity to work there,` said McDonald. `They would like to be able to prepare themselves.`
A job fair early on in the process would also give the local construction industry a chance at representation, and open up the relationship between vendors who will service the factory and its workers in the future.
Schools in the area are already spinning up programs to train workers in the chip manufacturing industry. The University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is widely considered to be a world-class program and is expanding. Hudson Valley Community College is looking to build a satellite campus at Saratoga Technology and Energy Park specially designed to provide fab technician training. In addition, high schools around the area are creating nanotechnology initiatives to attract students to the emerging area industry.
During the facility’s planning and approval phases, AMD (which spun off GlobalFoundries) promised that local residents would be well represented among the final workforce at Fab 2, but also said that the company’s existing employees will likely have to be brought in to get things rolling. The company has employees mainly in Germany and California.
There is, however, no stipulation attached to the $1.2 billion in state cash and tax incentives that the company must hire a certain number of local workers. McDonald said that is reason for locals to rally for the job opportunities, citing the case of a proposed Beech-Nut baby food factory in Montgomery County that will be built largely by a North Carolina-based contractor.
`We are concerned that you give the economic incentives and promises are made, and all of a sudden companies like Beech-Nut are hiring from outside the area,` he said. `The stipulation [for incentives] is that we’re trying to stimulate the local economy.`
Those watching the project have been waiting for an announcement that GlobalFoundries has purchased the land for Fab 2 for weeks. Once ownership has been transferred, the company can begin construction work while the site plans move through the final steps of approval in the Town of Malta.
Bullard also directed a reporter to the career section of GlobalFoundries’ Web site, where a search revealed eight GloFo jobs available in the Albany area and seven in Fishkill.“