Auchincloss gets firsthand look at COVID's lingering effects on Fall River manufacturers
FALL RIVER — Congressman Jake Auchincloss got his first taste of Fall River industry Monday afternoon.
“I think it represents the proud manufacturing legacy of southeastern Massachusetts,” said Auchincloss, as he stood inside the Matouk company’s manufacturing facility in the Fall River Industrial Park.
The 4th congressional district U.S. Representative, who was elected to a first term last November, said he’ll be visiting businesses in all 34 cities and towns within his district in the coming months.
In addition to touring Matouk, which manufactures high-end linen, bedding and bath towel products, Auchincloss stopped off at Blount Fine Foods, H&S Tool & Engineering and Millstone Medical Outsourcing.
He was accompanied by Mayor Paul Coogan and state Rep. Carole Fiola.
Todd Blount, president and CEO of Blount Fine Foods, told Auchincloss it’s become difficult during the past year to recruit and hire employees who have been collecting enhanced unemployment insurance benefits from the federal government.
“The extra $600 hurt us pretty bad,” Blount said, who called it the “biggest challenge” to keeping his company fully staffed.
He said there’s still a lingering fear of contracting COVID-19 among some people who have not yet returned to the workforce.
Blount said demand for his chowders, soups and macaroni and cheese has grown during the coronavirus pandemic, as more people are working remotely and opting to eat more meals at home.
He said he now has 1,200 employees at the Fall River corporate and manufacturing facility out of a total of 1,500 Blount workers at all three manufacturing locations.
“We could hire 100 more employees — we’re short all the time,” Blount said.
Auchincloss, who noted that as many as 200,000 Massachusetts workers lost their jobs during the past year as result of the pandemic, said he would work on legislation to provide infrastructure and workforce development assistance to businesses, such as those in the Fall River Industrial Park.
Blount said he would prefer less bureaucratic oversight from the federal government when it comes to issues such as raising the rising minimum wage and paid leave benefits.
“They should let the businesses determine those things and let market conditions do it naturally,” he said.
Coogan said the companies on Auchincloss’s itinerary were representative of “what Fall River is built on,” which he said includes “hard work, quality productivity and good wages.”
Source:
Charles Winokoor