We know that Walker made a fast trip recently to Japan (or perhaps it was really Taiwan?) related to possible development in Wisconsin, and we know that Trump hinted yesterday something big may be coming to Wisconsin, and now we have reporting that the iPhone assembler Foxconn, based in Taiwan with major operations in China, is eyeing a possible plant in either Wisconsin or Michigan.
Apple has been under pressure for years to relocate some of its production to the US, and Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, has gained a reputation for intense assembly-line work at breakneck speeds that has been associated with worker misery, even multiple suicides.
So while the nicely-timed-for-Walker's-re-election giddiness over some job growth here finally after six failed years in office, as well as a race between neighboring states to throw corporate welfare/public inducements Foxconn's way are on - - remember that Pennsylvania put big money on the table for a Foxconn plant that never happened there.
Details.
There is available land in Kenosha near the Amazon facility, which is near several major airports, rail and trucking connections.
Apple has been under pressure for years to relocate some of its production to the US, and Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, has gained a reputation for intense assembly-line work at breakneck speeds that has been associated with worker misery, even multiple suicides.
So while the nicely-timed-for-Walker's-re-election giddiness over some job growth here finally after six failed years in office, as well as a race between neighboring states to throw corporate welfare/public inducements Foxconn's way are on - - remember that Pennsylvania put big money on the table for a Foxconn plant that never happened there.
Details.
How Foxconn’s broken pledges in Pennsylvania cast doubt on Trump’s jobs planNow that WI is a right-to-work state with a rock-bottom minimum wage of $7.25 her hour, it's conceivable that work could be made profitable for Apple if there are millions in tax breaks, gifted land, and other subsidies that would, say, cut the wage cost in half, or so.
There is available land in Kenosha near the Amazon facility, which is near several major airports, rail and trucking connections.
Not to mention the multiple obstacles to a plant in Wisconsin:
ReplyDelete-- not enough workers (unless there are more current plant closings in the offing), a situation the "governor" has bemoaned for the past several months;
-- an impossibly tight budget, without room for more corporate giveaways;
-- too much road construction;
-- general unattractiveness of the state at this moment to in-migration, because of deteriorating civic, educational, and environmental conditions
I don't know how Walker can possibly pitch the state for a large new manufacturer when he's been excusing the lack of job growth on the slow growth in the population of potential workers. The contradictions are so obvious. But he has always been a slippery one in his choice of metrics. Perhaps he sees Foxconn as a great place for prison labor ...
This is what I don't get. The WMC crowd claims they can't find workers, but we all of a sudden will be able to find tens of thousands of workers for this?
DeleteOh, and how many tens of millions of dollars will we try to hand out for this in a state that has $1 billion,deficits in both the General Fund and Transportation in the,next budget, along with underfunded schools and communities.
It sounds like a pathetic, desperate stunt to me.
Now that WI is a right-to-work state with a rock-bottom minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, it's conceivable that work could be made profitable for Apple if there are millions in tax breaks, gifted land, and other subsidies that would, say, cut the wage cost in half, or so.
ReplyDelete