Nelson to Drop off Letter at Sen. Johnson’s Oshkosh Office

Appleton, Wis. – Calling it a perfect vehicle “to STOP the whack-a-mole race to the bottom for American workers,” Outagamie County Executive and pro-labor populist U.S. Senate candidate Tom Nelson on Wednesday called on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) to amend a pending U.S. Postal Service overhaul bill to include language that keeps Oshkosh Corp. jobs from fleeing to South Carolina.

A subsidiary of Oshkosh Corp. has announced plans to produce 165,000 USPS vehicles in an anti-union state where wages and benefits are lowered. In the letter also addressed to Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chair of the Homeland Security Committee and main sponsor of the bill, Nelson noted that corporate special interests deliberately pit state-against-state, worker-against-worker in a way that harms American workers.

Nelson also extolled the environmental benefits of electrifying the USPS vehicle fleet and called for language making sure the fleet was fully electrified.

He wrote:

“As the U.S. Postal Reform Act comes before the Senate for consideration for final passage after the House vote Tuesday, I see the perfect opportunity to use the legislation as a vehicle to STOP the whack-a-mole race to the bottom for American workers and BREAK our dependence on fossil fuels by calling for amendments to ensure that the USPS vehicles are produced in Wisconsin by Wisconsin workers. Keep Oshkosh Corp. jobs IN OSHKOSH.”

Nelson was also due to drop the letter off at Senator Johnson’s Oshkosh office today. Despite being a member of the Homeland Security committee, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) infamously told Wisconsin workers he had no intention of helping keep jobs in his Oshkosh hometown and believes that his home state has “enough jobs.”

Nelson released a tweet about the letter.

A copy of the letter appears below:

Tom Nelson

PO Box 361

Kaukauna, WI 54130

February 9, 2022

The Honorable Charles Schumer

Room 322, Hart Office Building

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Gary Peters

Chair, Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee

Room 724, Hart Office Building

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Cc:

The Honorable Tammy Baldwin

Room 709, Hart Office Building

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Cc:

The Honorable Ronald Johnson

Room 328, Hart Office Building

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators Schumer and Peters:

I am Tom Nelson, Outagamie County (Wis.) Executive.

As you know, Oshkosh Corp. is a proud part of Wisconsin’s manufacturing history that supports thousands of good-paying jobs at its plant and down the supply chain. Unfortunately, even after receiving millions of taxpayer dollars, Oshkosh Corp. is making plans to move production of its new vehicle fleet for the United States Postal Service (USPS) to South Carolina.

This can only be interpreted as an effort to skirt collective bargaining agreements. As in your own states, Wisconsin workers are being ground up in a race to the bottom for wages and benefits. One of your colleagues, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has indicated he supports these damaging efforts and believes that his own home state has “enough jobs.”

But it’s not just union labor that Oshkosh Corp. appears to be trying to avoid – it seems the corporation ALSO is skirting new clean air standards: If the 165,000 vehicles weighed just one pound less they would have to be electric, under new EPA regulations.

As the U.S. Postal Reform Act comes before the Senate for consideration for final passage after the House vote Tuesday, I see the perfect opportunity to use the legislation as a vehicle to STOP the whack-a-mole race to the bottom for American workers and BREAK our dependence on fossil fuels by calling for amendments to ensure that the USPS vehicles are produced in Wisconsin by Wisconsin workers. Keep Oshkosh Corp. jobs IN OSHKOSH.

Ensuring that the fleet is fully electrified breaks our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil.

Ensuring that the fleet is produced by Wisconsin, union labor helps rebuild a manufacturing economy that has deliberately been broken up and sold for parts.

I know that corporate special interests are lined up to keep wages low, keep us addicted to fossil fuels and to keep workers fighting for scraps with each other between one state and the other, but I also know that you are equal to the task of fighting for workers, for good-paying jobs and for the health of our common home.

Please support amending this USPS legislation.

Sincerely yours,