Matt Cartwright inspects steel piping at GMS on Wednesday while Gene Swindell, left, and Sec. Marty Walsh watch.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Labor Secretary Walsh tours Hanover Twp. manufacturer to promote infrastructure plan
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U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh speaks with workers at GMS Piling Products in Hanover Township. Walsh, along with Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Matt Cartwright, toured the facility on Wednesday.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
From left: Allison Swindell, owner of GMS; Sen. Bob Casey; Gene Swindell, owner of GMS; Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh; and Rep. Matt Cartwright.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
HANOVER TWP. — GMS Piling Products received a visit from U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh on Wednesday, who toured the facility while discussing how President Joe Biden’s proposed American Jobs Plan will help strengthen manufacturers like GMS in the future.
Flanked by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, Walsh spent about an hour checking out the facility with owners Gene and Allison Swindell, who oversee the day-to-day operations of the facility.
“I’m very impressed with the work I see going on here,” Walsh said after the tour, where he spoke to a group of GMS employees about the future of their industry under Biden. “I see product being made in America, being shipped around America and used to get things built in America.”
GMS Piling Products is a steel fabricator plant, producing a wide range of steel piping and bars used all over the country in large construction projects.
Walsh, formerly mayor of Boston before resigning to take his post in President Biden’s cabinet, was delighted to point out that steel from GMS had been used in his beloved Fenway Park.
The secretary’s visit, one of multiple stops Walsh made throughout the day around Pennsylvania, comes at a time where, as the country tries to pick itself back up and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic (‘drag itself out of the ditch,’ as Casey put it during his brief remarks), places like GMS are having trouble finding workers and keeping up productivity.
One GMS employee, Gary Shipierski, voiced his concerns directly to Walsh.
“Creating new jobs is great, but what are we going to do about the jobs we already have now, and can’t fill?” Shipierski asked. “We have plenty of jobs open here, but we can’t get people to work them.”
It’s a problem striking countless businesses around Northeastern Pennsylvania and the country at large, but Walsh assured Shipierski that the issue would be addressed by the president in his plan.
“Part of building up infrastructure is investing in workers to build it,” Walsh said.
According to Walsh, $50 billion of the American Jobs Plan would be invested into workforce development, including apprenticeships, career pathway programs in middle and high schools, community college partnerships and other job training programs based on in-demand skills.
Walsh detailed his own experiences for the workers, explaining how he made it through a year of community college before dropping out of Suffolk University after one semester.
“I didn’t want to go to college, I wanted to work,” he said. “So I went to work in construction.”
The facility’s inventory and machinery were highlighted by the Swindells as they led the group on a tour, filling Walsh, Casey and Cartwright on how much steel they produce, as well as relaying some of the hardships GMS faced during the pandemic.
After the visit, Allison Swindell seemed optimistic, while also recognizing the difficulties that they had faced over the year.
“We hoped that, by showing them what we do and what we need, it would be a good showcase of what needs to be done,” she said. “Obviously, our problems aren’t unique; companies everywhere were hurt bad last year.”