Oshkosh Defense union workers, leaders press on with fight to build USPS delivery vehicle in Oshkosh
Jeff Bollier
OSHKOSH - Oshkosh Defense union workers, their families and community supporters on Saturday vowed to keep pressure on the company to reverse course and build the new U.S. Postal Service vehicle in northeastern Wisconsin.
United Auto Workers Local 578 leaders joined representatives from United Auto Workers regional and national organizations, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO and the American Postal Workers Union 178 to rally support for the 1,600 Local 578 members who live in a 14-county area that stretches from Oshkosh to Marinette, Door and Waukesha counties.
Local, state and national union leaders have been trying to wrestle back the work of building up to 165,000 new mail delivery trucks since June, when the company said its Oshkosh Defense division would build the next-generation delivery vehicle, or NGDV, in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
On Saturday, around 200 attendees waved signs urging Oshkosh Defense to "Build it here, by the UAW" and took yard signs home that urge the community to support union jobs. Several speakers energized the crowd on a cold Saturday with call-and-response chants to "build it here" and "build it union."
Those efforts have faced recent setbacks as USPS moved ahead with its plans and Oshkosh Defense said in a statement work is well underway in South Carolina in order to deliver NGDVs beginning in 2023. But union leaders and workers intend to press on.
Tim Jacobson, Local 578 Chief Steward, said the company still has time and production capacity to do the work in Oshkosh and was among the speakers who encouraged the crowd to continue the fight.
"I believe we do have a chance," Jacobson said.
Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale said the union workforce's reputation helped the company earn military vehicle contracts and the NGDV contract, awarded in February 2021. She said union work means better pay and a skilled workforce that customers, in this case taxpayers, can rely on.
"When the U.S. Postal Service ... needed the next generation of dependable trucks to deliver our mail, they came to you," Bloomingdale said. "They know they can trust the union men and women at Oshkosh to build the next generation vehicle right the first time. ... There's a reason Wisconsin is known worldwide for high-quality manufacturing and that reason is you."
The rally comes at the end of a roller coaster month in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and White House officials called on the Postal Service to reconsider the environmental impact of its plan to buy mostly gas-powered vehicles rather than electric models from Oshkosh. Union leaders urged the Postal Service Board of Governors to also reconsider where the vehicles are produced, noting the work would preserve existing family-supporting jobs and create more.
State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, talked about growing up in Oshkosh with friends whose parents worked at Oshkosh Corp. In some cases, he said those friends would end up working at Oshkosh Corp., too.
"I've had friends whose lives have been saved. They've been toiling around and then they got a job at Oshkosh Corp. and then it's, 'I'm going to work hard. I'm never going to give it up. It means the world to me. I can buy a house. I can provide for my family,'" Hintz said, adding the company is important to the region. "People move to Oshkosh for quality jobs, for quality work."
On Wednesday, USPS said it had completed its environmental review of the NGDV program and intends to move ahead with plans to acquire mostly gas-powered vehicles in the early stages of the contract. It said the decision balanced economic and environmental concerns, but USPS added it has discussed electrifying 70% of its fleet over the next decade. Postmaster Louis DeJoy has said the first order from Oshkosh will include about 5,000 electric vehicles but that a larger electric fleet will require more money.
In a Friday statement UAW President Ray Curry criticized USPS' decision to move forward without considering "serious concerns" raised about the type of vehicles and where they're produced.
“USPS can still determine the impact of its Next Generation vehicle contract on the environment by working with Oshkosh Defense to support good union jobs and utilize existing facilities in Wisconsin, where union workers have been building high-quality vehicles for government for decades," Curry said.
For its part, Oshkosh Defense has said it could build all electric vehicles if USPS requested them. The contract calls for it to produce up to 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, beginning with a $482 million contract to finalize production design. The 10-year production contract could be worth up to $11.3 billion.
Oshkosh Defense moves ahead
John Bryant, Oshkosh Defense president, in a statement said the company has moved ahead with developing the NGDV production facility in South Carolina in order to meet contractual deadlines to deliver vehicles in 2023.
Union leaders said Oshkosh Defense's Oshkosh area manufacturing plants have the capacity to handle NGDV production and that capacity could be increased by adding additional shifts. Bryant said the company needed 825,000 square feet of production space, more than it has available in a single facility in Oshkosh, and it failed to find a suitable facility in Oshkosh or Wisconsin.
"Wisconsin simply did not have any available buildings that could meet this requirement and given the strict timing requirements of this program, building a new facility was not feasible," Bryant said.
The company called the 1,000 jobs it will create in South Carolina long-term positions and noted 100 "highly technical" NGDV program engineer and support staff jobs will be based in Oshkosh for the duration of the contract. The company said it started hiring for technical center jobs in 2021.
Bryant said the company supports its workers' right to peacefully assemble and said that no jobs will be lost in Oshkosh because of the company's decision to locate NGDV manufacturing in South Carolina.
"We value the longstanding and skilled workforce we have in Wisconsin and are committed to growing our local presence," Bryant said.
Political rallying cry
Elected officials and candidates in the November midterm elections here, and in South Carolina, have seized on the environmental and economic disputes over the NGDV contract.
That theme continued Saturday with several speakers focusing on voting and the state's U.S. Senate election. At the same time, Spartanburg and South Carolina elected officials have taken note of workers' and politicians' efforts, as well, and launched an influence campaign of their own.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Feb. 5 told reporters he didn't intend to try to persuade Oshkosh Defense to move production back to northeastern Wisconsin. Johnson said employers here already have trouble finding enough workers and that the company is best-suited to make the call on where to build the vehicles.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., drew a contrast to Johnson, saying the issue was simple, to her: "I want Oshkosh Defense to manufacture trucks in Oshkosh with Wisconsin workers," Baldwin told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Democrats vying to challenge Johnson in this fall's U.S. Senate race immediately seized on his comments. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, activist Steven Olikara and Wisconsin Treasurer Sarah Godlewski all spoke Saturday in support of the workers and the importance of union jobs to themselves and communities across Wisconsin.
Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.