Although the company isn’t commenting, it appears most workers at the yet-to-be-built Foxconn liquid crystal display plant in Racine County will be on a 12-hour-a-day work schedule. Transit planners have been told to prepare for two shift changes a day.
12 hour shifts are not uncommon in manufacturing, according to Steve Duquaine, Director of Human Resources for Rustoleum, a paint manufacturer that has a plant in Pleasant Prairie. The company successfully implemented such a schedule four years ago. Only one worker quit during the transition process, Duquaine said.
The longer shifts reduce overtime and allow companies to better utilize expensive equipment, Duquaine said. A selling point for workers is more time off, with workers getting as many days off as they work.
However, recruiting can be a challenge for some companies, especially when they’re going after highly-skilled workers, Duquaine said. "That's because the more skills a person has the more options they have," Duquaine said, adding that company that offer good benefit packages and working conditions have fewer problems.
When asked about work schedules, a Foxconn spokesperson said in an email that hiring details would be announced at a later date.
At a public meeting last month on road expansion plans, John Bieberitz, a transportation consultant who'd been hired by the village, said he'd been told to plan for a pair of shift changes between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., and 6 p.m. and 7 p.m seven days a week. He compared the anticipated traffic congestion around the plant to what's encountered during a Thursday afternoon Brewers game at Miller Park, with 4,000 to 7,000 vehicles coming and going.
Groundbreaking on the $10 billion Foxconn plant that could employee up to 13,000 workers is expected to take place this spring.
-0-