APPLETON, Wis. – Outagamie County Executive and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Nelson on Monday called on Sen. Ron Johnson to answer for the use of illegal migrant labor at the Deep South manufacturing plants where Johnson favors exporting Wisconsin jobs.
Johnson has vowed NOT to fight Oshkosh Defense’s plans to relocate a $10 billion federal contract to manufacture U.S. Postal Service vehicles to South Carolina, a transparent move by the corporation to avoid paying higher wages with more benefits in Wisconsin.
But the Spartanburg, S.C. plants have an atrocious labor record that includes the illegal use of migrant labor.
A 2017 investigation by CBS News and the Greenville News (Gannett), showed that BMW and Volvo car plants hired an abundance of undocumented workers. This report followed an earlier revelation that workers were cheated out of wages.
Nelson said:
“Ron Johnson has made clear he won’t fight for Wisconsin jobs. Can he look an Oshkosh worker in the eye and say their job won’t be lost to illegal migrant labor practices?
“Does Ron Johnson support giving Wisconsin jobs to undocumented workers? And if not, how can he justify doing NOTHING to stop this move?
“Oshkosh Defense has some questions to answer as well. At the very least, they owe an explanation to the very workers whose reputation of hardwork and top-shelf craftsmanship earned them such a lucrative contract in the first place.”
On Saturday, Nelson joined UAW workers in Oshkosh opposing the planned move.
