The man who led Kenosha County government back in 1988 when Chrysler laid off over 5,000 workers in Kenosha and ended auto assembly says he can’t think of a Foxconn downside. "Always better to have more jobs than less," said John Collins in a WGTD interview.
Asked whether Foxconn's rumored plant for Racine County would be the largest economic development story for the area since the Chrysler layoffs in neighboring Kenosha, Collins went a step further: "It would probably be the biggest single economic development story in the state of Wisconsin because while we had 14,000 jobs here in the 1970's---they didn't spring on us at one point. That was something that occurred through growth."
Collins was referring to the thousands of auto workers who labored at American Motors plants in Kenosha in the 60s and 70s.
Some type of Foxconn announcement is expected to be made this week. Legislators have said that up to 10,000 jobs could be created.
A plant located in Racine County, Collins said, would have a positive ripple effect throughout southeast Wisconsin.
Collins and others are eager to learn the specifics of the new jobs, such as wage and benefit levels, and the skills that'll be required to fill them.
Others in the state are wondering about the size of the incentive package that Wisconsin will have to offer.
Steve Deller is a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of agriculture and applied economics. He told the Associated Press that he hopes "cooler heads prevail when putting these incentive packages together."
He said sometimes states lose sight of the costs of incentives in the race to land major manufacturers.
Very little has been said publicly about what tax breaks, subsidies, free land and other financial incentives or promises Gov. Walker and state economic development officials may be extending.
-0-
