Foxconn denies report that it could bring workers from China to the Wisconsin plant

Foxconn has received about $ 4 billion in the grants put aside by Wisconsin for the construction of a new plant in the state, but this deal seems worse and worse day after day. According to the Wall Street Journal, Foxconn plans to transfer workers from China to its factory staff because the company has had trouble hiring enough workers in the United States. But Foxconn categorically denies the report and insists he finds enough workers in the United States.

"We can categorically say that the claim that we are hiring Chinese personnel for our project in Wisconsin is false," Foxconn Technology Group told Gizmodo by email. "Our recruitment priority remains top of mind in Wisconsin and we continue to focus on recruiting and training workers across Wisconsin. We will complete this recruitment in other US sites as needed. "

But according to the Wall Street Journal, it is difficult to find a skilled workforce in the United States today because of the country's low unemployment rate. And it's particularly low in Wisconsin right now, where the unemployment rate is only 3%, with an incredibly low rate of 3.7%.

The Taiwanese company Foxconn, better known to the US public as one of Apple's top suppliers, initially promised in 2017 to build WI generation 10.5 generation facilities in the Wisconsin, producing glass up to 75 inches for television. But these plans have been reduced and the company is building a Generation 6 facility that makes glass for smaller phones and tablets. A smaller facility would mean fewer workers, but even if the WSJ report is not wrong in bringing in workers from China, it will still be difficult to find the 13,000 or so employees Foxconn needs to get the plant to work. manufacture works properly. At least, it's hard to find them in southern Wisconsin.

The facility located in southeastern Wisconsin, a 20 million square foot campus located roughly midway between Milwaukee and Chicago, is still in its infancy. But President Trump was quick to join the project, even going to the site on June 28, 2018 with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou. The project is widely considered a boondoggle, as subsidies now seem to cost taxpayers between $ 220,000 and $ 1 million per job generated. And with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is due to be re-elected today, the project has become a lightning rod.

And that does not mean the many concerns about the environmental impact of the project. Foxconn would have taken about 7 million gallons of water a day in Lake Michigan. According to the New Yorker, Governor Walker would have obtained smog exemptions for the region through former EPA director Scott Pruitt.

The long and the short of it? Even if Foxconn ends up hiring only American workers, the whole project suggests that it will be a huge financial drain for the region and an environmental problem. But it can also sum up the entire Trump era: a financial drain and an environmental problem.