Tammy Baldwin charges Ron Johnson 'doesn't support creating jobs in his own hometown'

Bill Glauber
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin's U.S. senators Tammy Baldwin (left), a Democrat, and Ron Johnson (right), a Republican.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Thursday that Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson should want to create high-paying jobs in Wisconsin as she sought to keep up pressure in her efforts to get Oshkosh Corp. to reverse course and bring more than 1,000 new jobs to the state.

"I'm very disappointed that Senator Johnson doesn't support creating jobs in his own hometown instead of South Carolina. And I want the trucks built in Oshkosh with Wisconsin workers," Baldwin said during a media briefing arranged by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

On Saturday, the Oshkosh Republican said he supported having more manufacturing jobs in the state but added he wouldn't insert insert himself into the company's decision to build vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service at a new facility in South Carolina. 

During a radio interview Thursday with WIND-AM in Chicago, Johnson contended he was "bushwhacked" by a reporter Saturday, and yet doubled down on his comments: "I said, 'listen, it's not like we don't have enough jobs in Wisconsin. The number one problem for employers in Wisconsin is they can't find enough workers. So I also am concerned about ... efficiently and effectively using taxpayer money, and that's what Oshkosh Corp. has done."

Johnson said the firm didn't have the production capacity in Wisconsin, got a building in South Carolina that it can outfit and thus produce the vehicles on time.

"We're not shipping any jobs out of Wisconsin," he said. "These are all new jobs on a new contract."

Johnson accused the Biden administration and the United Auto Workers union of trying to "tank the contract, to take it away from Oshkosh Truck, because it may not use union labor."

Johnson, who is running for reelection in a nationally watched race, added that he would have "loved" to have the trucks made in the state but "it just wasn't possible."

Bob Lynk, president of the United Auto Workers Local 578, and Tim Jacobson, a chief steward, said they were eager to meet with Johnson and denied that the local union was working to try to blow up the deal.

"We want Oshkosh to have the work," Lynk said during the media availability arranged by the state Democrats.

"This is Oshkosh. We believe we deserve that work," Jacobson said. "We have the facilities to do that work."

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In February, 2021, Oshkosh Corporation's Oshkosh Defense division won a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to produce up to 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles. The firm later announced its decision to manufacture the vehicles at a new facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it planned to hire more than 1,000 employees.

The Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Technical Center in Oshkosh will employ more than 100 people in engineering and program support, under the plan.

Last week, the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency sent letters to USPS asking it to reconsider its plans to buy primarily gas-powered vehicles. Oshkosh Defense said it could make adjustments to meet new requirements for all-electric vehicles if the contract changes.

Oshkosh Defense President John Bryant said this week that production of the new vehicles would require a minimum of 825,000 square feet of space, more than its largest Oshkosh facility. 

"Our existing facilities in Oshkosh are fully occupied and set up to execute Defense programs," Bryant said.

Baldwin said she was hopeful that the company would be open to reversing its decision.

"We want to look closely at the contract which was based upon an assumption there would be use of existing facilities for production of these trucks," she said. "And we also have some other questions on whether the environmental impact properly anticipated the move to South Carolina."

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