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Businesses China United States Technology

Foxconn Denies Looking To Transfer Chinese Workers To Incoming Wisconsin Factory (theverge.com) 61

A Wall Street Journal article published this morning reported that Foxconn is looking to transfer some of its Chinese workers to Wisconsin in time for its new factory opening in Racine. The article says that these workers would likely be engineers and would fill a gap in prospective talent due to a tight labor market. Foxconn has since denied these claims. The Verge reports: In a comment to Gizmodo, Foxconn denied that it was recruiting Chinese workers. The company said: "We can categorically state that the assertion that we are recruiting Chinese personnel to staff our Wisconsin project is untrue. Our recruitment priority remains Wisconsin first and we continue to focus on hiring and training workers from throughout Wisconsin. We will supplement that recruitment from other U.S. locations as required."

In November 2017, Wisconsin pledged $3 billion in subsidies for the Taiwan-based company if it opted to open the factory in Wisconsin. In return, Foxconn said it would create 13,000 jobs and invest $10 billion. (The state subsidy came out to $230,000 per job.) The Wall Street Journal report suggests that the company is struggling to find qualified engineers in the area, though, as the unemployment rate in the state reached a record low at 3 percent, along with a recent national low at 3.7 percent.

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Foxconn Denies Looking To Transfer Chinese Workers To Incoming Wisconsin Factory

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    How stupid the people wanna be?

    I mean, how in the world can anyone transfer Chinese workers from China to work in American factory inside America?

    Don't they have any common sense left?

    • actually done for textiles and prostitution, people promised immigration to American, then at LAX with the help of criminal employees there the people are whisked off to factory or brothel.

      that's how to do it, and even make the victims pay for it.

      • actually done for textiles and prostitution, people promised immigration to American, then at LAX with the help of criminal employees there the people are whisked off to factory or brothel.

        Can you cite an actual example of this happening? A quick Google search found several politicians talking about human trafficking thru LAX, but none of them provided any evidence that it had actually happened even once.

        • eh, look again, dozens of cases out there

          I have personal experience with the problem when in late 1990s a group of people I cared about had given money being promised immigration into the USA, luckily that was solved before they were too far into the clutches of the system

          things like this:

          http://www.nbcnews.com/id/2816... [nbcnews.com]

    • by sphealey ( 2855 )

      It is quite normal when starting up a new location in a different region whether across town, different county/province, or different nation) to send some managers, construction people, engineers, and supervisors to get the new location built and local staff hired. Then at startup production workers often are sent for a few weeks/months to train the new production team how to operate according to company standards. So as long as local staff is being hired for eventual local operation I see nothing out of th

  • I work in IT (Score:5, Informative)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday November 06, 2018 @07:58PM (#57603486)
    And I know a couple mechanical engineers doing the same because they couldn't get jobs in their field (unless you count $15/hr in a machine shop as " in your field" after a tough 4 year degree program). There's plenty of talent, but they're not gonna pay for it. They'll have folks on work Visas running the factory in a year or two. Gave it Wisconsin, you got played. Now what are you gonna do about it? Nothing, I bet. Just keep voting the same bums in. Year after year...
    • by Anonymous Coward

      I would think it makes sense to transfer some people with actual experience and not just a degree.

      Which is not to say that's what is or is not happening here, simply that were I opening a new location, I would like some people that I have already had working for me.

    • Maybe not, supposedly this deal was a big issue in the Wisconsin gubernatorial election this year. So we will find out soon whether or not they keep the same bums in. The current governor was the one who really pushed the deal through.
      • Maybe not, supposedly this deal was a big issue in the Wisconsin gubernatorial election this year. So we will find out soon whether or not they keep the same bums in. The current governor was the one who really pushed the deal through.

        Scott Walker has been officially tagged and bagged. https://www.kare11.com/article... [kare11.com]

        Good riddance to bad rubbish.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Or maybe they are doing the standard thing that every company does when setting up a new factory, i.e. send in some existing employees to transfer the knowledge and set everything up.

      Hiring a bunch of new people locally and expecting them to immediately come together as a team, follow established company procedures and standards and produce a good outcome is unwise to say the least. When you are investing billions in a new facility you don't take insane risks like that, you send in people you know you can r

    • Exactly, anytime I see " struggling to find qualified engineers", there's always the missing "... at the wage we're offering" part missing to the statement. If you're struggling to find a set number of qualified engineers, it's because the pay is too low, end of story. If you're sitting at the right of the demand curve looking for large numbers of workers at low wages and not finding equilibrium in the labor market, then you have 2 choices: hire fewer workers or increase wages, that's why it's called the LA
    • by nwaack ( 3482871 )

      Now what are you gonna do about it? Nothing, I bet. Just keep voting the same bums in. Year after year...

      Except the people of Wisconsin didn't do that, now did they?

      Also, who the hell are you talking to? Are you trying to troll an entire state?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    as a 'tight labor market' .. they're just too fucking cheap, even with all that cash walker is giving them, to offer decent wages to americans first, before importing the cheaper h1b prospects.

  • by Streetlight ( 1102081 ) on Tuesday November 06, 2018 @08:21PM (#57603576) Journal
    The article is pretty detailed:

    https://www.theverge.com/2018/... [theverge.com]

    If the article is correct, the cash subsidy for the factory has ballooned to $4.1 billion, and it won't make what was originally proposed. The payback of the subsidy is "...not 20 years, not 42 years..." likely never. The number of jobs is likely less than the 13,000 promised.
    • Our middling City, in the grand tradition of keeping up with the Joneses, has implemented a quarter cent sales tax increase to fund an Economic Development Fund.

      It has basically amounted to little more than a slush fund for the politically connected, and though the promise of economic diversity looms large like the lottery funding education, it is just another way to funnel taxpayer's money to the ruling class.

      "Sure, let's legislate additional ways for our reliable politicians to hoover up our tax money.

    • It looks to me like everyone is catching on to the Hollywood model of demanding massive subsidies to make a movie in your town.
      Pretty soon we will be having to pay the boss to come to work every day.
    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Narcocide ( 102829 )

      The number of jobs is likely less than the 13,000 promised.

      Yea, and go figure, nobody who lives in fucking Wisconsin is qualified to do any of them.

      • They can hire anyone in the US if they want to. Moving costs and/or remote worker environments are pretty cheap to set up.
    • What a colossal fail.

      • by sphealey ( 2855 )

        I'm betting that the Friends of Scott Walker have so far reaped 10s millions of dollars in legal fees, "consulting fees", etc so not a fail for them. And now there will be a nice fat cushy job waiting at one of those Friends' firms after inauguration day - so not a fail for Walker.

        Crony capitalism: it works. For cronies.

  • usa min wage will be big for some Chinese workers as long as live on site.

  • Foxconn is practicing the Taoist principle of Wu Wei -- how to do (lie) without doing (lying).
    The allegation is of transferring Chinese employees to their US factory, and they counter with a denial of recruiting new Chinese workers. It's completely possible for both statements to be true.
    The real story is most likely that some senior engineers/foremen familiar with Foxconn practices are heading to the new factory to make sure everything is working smoothly.

    • If they are bringing in foreign workers they need green cards or H1B. There should be a paper trail. You could check for that.
      • If they are bringing in foreign workers they need green cards or H1B.

        Only W-2 employees need green cards or H1B visas. None of that is required for independent contractors.

        • What? I had to get a H1B visa to spend 2 weeks in CA (a business trip essentially). Regardless of my reason to visit, I had to get a visa. I'm an EU citizen and I really doubt Chinese nationals would have an easier time. Especially if they are working directly for a US based branch of a company (my H1B wouldn't cover that). Could you cite where you got the notion that independent contractors don't need a visa, like an on embassy page?

  • "If something looks to good to be true, it probably is"

    It looks like Tony Evers has it for Wisconsin (by 1.2% points) so we will see what will happen with this. It's like being in the middle of an ocean on a boat; do you keep going in the direction you are pointed or turn around.

    Either way, this turned out to be a waste. Not that any of it will stick to FOXCONN, I doubt people will stop using iPhones in solidarity with Wisconsin. I just hope Tony goes a bit hardball and tries to hammer out a better deal the

    • Like everything on The Verge, it would not surprise me. Like the situation of Chinese workers assembling Prada bags in Tuscany, there are incentives on both sides. google street view [ggstreetview.com] maps

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