During a Wednesday evening telephone “town hall” event, a United Auto Workers Local 578 member from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, called out Ron Johnson for being “in favor of moving the [Oshkosh Corp.] postal [vehicle manufacturing] contract to South Carolina” when “we’re short on jobs in the Fox Valley.”
The Wisconsin worker — who noted he was a previous supporter of Johnson — slammed Johnson’s refusal to fight for Wisconsin workers and jobs, saying Johnson’s excuses, “[sound] like a bunch of rhetoric to me. And you haven’t been well informed on the situation.”
Johnson has defended Oshkosh Corps.’ decision to base the USPS contract’s production in South Carolina, arguing that it is more “efficient” from a business perspective — the same exact argument that Johnson uses to justify and praise the outsourcing of American jobs.
On Wednesday evening’s call, the Fox Valley UAW worker agreed to disagree with Johnson from a values perspective, saying, “Spending money on union workers and keeping the jobs in Oshkosh on a livable wage is just more important.”
Listen to a clip of the back and forth here, and the full exchange here.
