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Lawmaker Says Addition of Manufacturing Jobs a Nice Change
A local lawmaker says he couldn't be more happy to help announce that manufacturing jobs are actually coming to Galesburg instead of leaving.

State Representative Don Moffitt was on hand Friday at the Steelworkers Union hall, where officials announced that the Gates Rubber plant outside Galesburg had created 25 new jobs in connection to the addition of an industrial hose distribution facility on site.

The Gilson Republican says the job announcement is just something that isn't heard all too often here anymore, let alone anywhere else. "(Friday's) announcement reverses decades of the trends that we've seen in manufacturing in Illinois and in the Midwest," Moffitt said. "It's great to see this reversal."

Moffitt says the community should be glad Gates continues to house a plant in Galesburg. "We as a community, and as a state, never gave up on Gates," Moffitt said. "And thank goodness Gates never gave up on us."

Moffitt says he wants to sent a message to Gates executives thanking them for making a bit of a comeback in Galesburg, and acknowledging the local workforce and their work ethic.

The expansion was made possible in part through state grant money from the State Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, for both job creation and retention, and for worker training in new plant technology.

You can hear the full announcement online, by CLICKING HERE (mp3 format).
08 22 08 by Newsroom
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