Blumenthal Tours Sheet Metal Workers' Training Center [VIDEO]

The Sheet Metal Workers Local 40 and the Associated Sheet Metal and Roofing Contractors of Connecticut provided Sen. Richard Blumenthal with a tour of their training center on Old Forge Road Monday afternoon.

The center helps provide training for skilled craftsmen to improve air quality and reduce wasteful energy in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, the company press release said. The facility is also focused on creating more green jobs.

“You are our future,” Blumenthal said. “Today is a very exciting and very meaningful day because I get opportunity to say thank you.”

While visiting people throughout the state, Blumenthal said one thing is on their minds and that is “growing the economy and promoting jobs.”

“There are jobs for people who have the right skills, and you are providing the right training and skill, which is tremendously exciting for me.”

He added that the “lack of job training is inhibiting” job growth and hurting the recovery from recession.

“We need the kind of courage to step forward and do the training,” Blumenthal said.  He added we need to “invest in people, believe in people and create jobs that serve the people.”

Blumenthal told the workers that they are the “model” for other industries and groups in Connecticut and around the country.

“I am going to be bragging to anyone who will listen down there (Washington D.C.) including the White House,” Blumenthal said. “This is the future, but it’s also what we need to do now.”

Matthew S. Cole of Wings Testing and Balancing Company was one of the presenters on the tour. He told Blumenthal how he was a student at the facility and now owns his own business.

While touring the facility, Luke J. Ford and Mark Mastropasqua showed Blumenthal how a sheet welder builds a fume hood with an exhaust pipe.

“We take the flat raw material, lay it out, form it up and then we put it together to make a finished project,” Ford said. The fume hood technology helps to reduce energy costs for businesses, according to the company press release.