St. Cloud Times: In St. Cloud stop, Franken talks skills gap with industry, school

Jeff Skumautz gave U.S. Sen. Al Franken a brief tutorial in robotic metalwork Monday afternoon in a workshop at Central McGowan.

Skumautz, president of the St. Cloud-based business that supplies welding and industrial equipment, even presented Franken with a sign emblematic of one of his latest legislative efforts: the Community College to Career Fund Act.

Cut on a computer-programmed machine, it bore Franken’s name and the name of the proposed law in a piece of steel about the size of a large envelope.

Franken, DFL-Minn., met with Skumautz, officials from local manufacturing organizations and St. Cloud Technical & Community College to seek input and support for a bill that last week passed a Senate Labor Committee with a goal of creating partnerships between community colleges and businesses. The association, Franken told a group of about 20 people at Central McGowan, would narrow a skills gap that leaves many manufacturing jobs currently unfilled.

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