Oshkosh Defense, a Wisconsin-based specialty automotive company, was at the center of a tense exchange between Wisconsin’s two United States Senators this week, bringing back under public scrutiny a multi billion dollar federal contract awarded to the firm last February. Under the contract, the company would produce a replacement fleet of 165,000 vehicles for the United States Postal Service.
Oshkosh Defense announced the decision that it would be producing the fleet of vehicles in Spartanburg, South Carolina last June. Senator Ron Johnson, a member of the Republican party and elected official based out of Oshkosh, told reporters Saturday he would not want to “insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin,” saying it’s more important for federal dollars to be spent efficiently.
He also downplayed the importance of adding jobs to Wisconsin’s economy.
“It’s not like we don’t have enough jobs here in Wisconsin,” Johnson said. “The biggest problem we have in Wisconsin right now is employers not being able to find enough workers.”
Johnson has received pushback for his remarks from his Wisconsin colleague, Senator Tammy Baldwin, who says she wants those trucks built locally.
“We want to look closely at the contract which was based upon an assumption that there would be use of existing facilities for production of these trucks,” she added.
Oshkosh Defense workers in South Carolina are nonunion. Baldwin accused Oshkosh Defense of shifting work down south to avoid hiring Wisconsin’s union workers, many of whom are also speaking out.
“We’re Wisconsinites. We expect a company that’s named after our hometown would have the decency to keep the jobs here,” said Tim Jacobsen, chief steward, UAW Local 578 in Oshkosh to reporters for WBAY News.
Jacobsen, a member of the union’s leadership team, added, “We’ve already felt the pain of outsourcing to other countries. Now we’re fighting against having our jobs outsourced to another state. I don’t want to move my family to South Carolina and I know my colleagues don’t want to either.”
The USPS contract has also come under fire in recent days, as the Biden administration has threatened to halt the contract because only about 10 percent of vehicles are planned to be electric. The federal contract is also the subject of a lawsuit filed by a rival company, alleging it was improperly awarded.
Reporting Courtesy of Sean Hagerup for Labor Radio
Image Courtesy of WORT Archive on Flickr
