SHELBY, N.C. – More than 500 jobs could be coming to Cleveland County, but first residents have to prove they have the skills to do the work.
Residents are already anxious because for years there’s been a desperate need for hands-on jobs in the area.
“We used to be a manufacturing town; most of the manufacturing went out of business, put everything down,” said local Pete Wilson. “Then they had a few jobs come in but they weren’t paying enough money to support your family and stuff. We need (jobs) bad; we need them bad around here.”
An industry-leading boat manufacturing company is looking at opening a plant in the area that could bring up to 800 new jobs, but first company owners are accepting applications to check out the county’s labor pool.
“We’re not lazy people; we believe in working,” Wilson said. “That’s the only way you get to have something, get out there and work.”
Shelby leaders said the boat manufacturing industry is attracted to western North Carolina because abandoned plants, like a former furniture plant in the city that shut down years ago.
“I lost my job; I had to go out on my own,” said furniture maker Dennis Mullinax. “It was hard because I’d been there, that’s all I knew for 23 years.
Mullinax said when his former employee, Drexol Heritage Furniture, went overseas, it left behind hundreds of highly qualified employees.
“Probably 200 people worked there when they shut it down,” he said. “They were very skilled.”
Such sophisticated woodwork talent is a must for making boats. Antwaun McCluney said his father worked for Drexol too and he saw that talent firsthand.
“They put high quality into what they did, so if they make high quality furniture, they will make high quality boats,” he said.
McCluney said he believes workers there would make the best boats in the country.
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