With gasoline prices at $4 or more per gallon, Bob Trottier, co-owner of Casemer Tool & Machine in Oxford, can’t understand why skilled workers continue to drive great distances when there are good-paying jobs right here.
‘It’s crazy that people drive right through this town down to 9 Mile and Groesbeck to go work in a machine shop and they live in Lapeer,? he said. ‘They think for some reason that this town pays less money and that’s just crazy.?
Hoping to capture the attention of commuting workers, Trottier posted an advertisement last week on the Message Center billboard located on M-24, south of Drahner Rd.
It read: ‘Tired of the drive and gas cost? Casemer Tool in Oxford is hiring CNC Lathe Mill 248-628-4807.
‘We might catch one of these 50,000 cars that go by,? said Trottier, who’s involved in a partnership that’s owned Casemer since 1987.
Located at 465 S. Glaspie St. since 1991, Casemer Tool & Machine (www.casemer.com) is a precision machining and manufacturing company that specializes in precision details, spindles, aircraft components, machine tool components, fixtures, gauges, assemblies and conveyor systems. The company’s certified to ISO 9001-2000.
Casemer currently employs about 25 workers, but Trottier’s looking to add four more skilled people.
Despite the fact that people are losing jobs left and right in Michigan as companies make cut backs, down-size or leave the state, Trottier still finds it difficult to hire skilled people who live in the area.
‘This is nothing new,? he said. ‘We’ve always had trouble in this town.?
Why?
It’s the same mentality that tells people, as Trottier put it, ‘you have to drive a long ways to find that perfect fishing hole.?
‘They think we must pay less because we happen to be too close to home,? he explained. ‘There’s a lot of machine shops in this town that always have trouble hiring for some reason.?
In Casemer’s case, skilled workers earn anywhere from $18 to $22 per hour.
‘I pay very, very good wages,? Trottier said.
And there’s definitely no shortage of work.
‘My guys typically, over the past 5 years or so, run 55 hours. Some of them run 60 hours a week,? Trottier explained. ‘I just handed out paychecks today and I would say most of them are grossing over $1,500, which is not minuscule.?
And yet despite these competitive wages, every day Trottier sees people clog M-24 as they drive 50-60 miles to go to work, then make the same commute to come back home.
‘It boggles my mind that they do that when there are very good jobs right here,? he said. ‘Complain about no work, complain about gas prices, complain about this, complain about that, then drive down to Detroit from Lapeer. It’s ridiculous.?