Local News
Trump to attend Foxconn groundbreaking amid lingering criticism of the development
It’s the official groundbreaking Thursday for the massive Foxconn manufacturing facility in Racine county.
Some remain highly critical of the Foxconn development and what it will cost the state.
Like Democratic candidate for governor, Kelda Roys who has highlighted the troubles with families having to move out of their homes to make way for the facility.
And that’s just one of her problems with the Foxconn deal.
“I’m a small business owner, so right of the gate was like a slap in the face to me and other small business owners who pay our taxes and follow the laws.”
Roys is among Democratic candidates for office in Wisconsin this year focusing on state incentives to Foxconn as a campaign issue.
Roys believes there’s still too many unknowns considering the $4.5 billion in state incentives spent on the project.
“We don’t know who’s going to get these jobs or whether they’ll be totally automated. We don’t know if they’re going to come from Illinois. We don’t know what the labor standards and the wages are going to be and certainly the complete exemption from environmental laws that keep our water and our air clean is a grave concern,” she said.
A statement from the governor’s office had this to say about those concerns: “Foxconn is required to follow the same regulations as every other business including air permitting, stormwater control, hazardous waste, wastewater regulation, and Great Lakes water use regulations and other environmental regulations as every other project in the state.”
President Trump is scheduled to speak at the groundbreaking and, before that, attend a Republican fundraiser at a Milwaukee hotel.
The $10 billion Foxconn plant is projected to employ, at some point, 13,000 workers averaging $54,000 per year.