Wirch Calls Out Walker, WEDC for Awards to Companies Outsourcing Jobs

At Least Two Companies Receiving Tax Credits Shipped Jobs out of the Country

Madison- Senator Bob Wirch (D-Somers) is calling for immediate reforms to Governor Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) in light of recent reports that at least two companies who received millions of dollars in state tax credits from the agency subsequently sent Wisconsin jobs to other countries.

“WEDC is supposed to be providing these resources – taxpayer money – to help businesses creating jobs here in Wisconsin. Instead, it has rewarded companies who outsourced hundreds of Wisconsin workers’ jobs. This should have never happened, but now we need to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Wirch said.

It has recently been revealed that WEDC awarded millions of dollars in state tax credits based on promises of job creation to two companies, Plexus Corp. and Eaton Corp. Both of these companies then laid off Wisconsin workers and sent their jobs to other countries. After being granted up to $17 million in WEDC awards, Plexus laid off 116 workers at its Neenah facility and sent those jobs to a number of other countries. Eaton was awarded up to $1 million in tax credits by WEDC, laid off 163 employees at a Pewaukee site and sent their jobs to Mexico, and then received an additional award of up to $1.36 million from WEDC. News reports also revealed that executives with the two companies have donated nearly $20,000 to Walker’s political campaigns.

“This definitely doesn’t pass the smell test. Governor Walker and WEDC need to be held accountable, and not one more cent of taxpayer money should be used to pad a corporation’s bottom line while Wisconsin families are left in the dust,” stated Wirch.

This is just the latest in a string of issues that have plagued WEDC, Walker’s chief job creation agency, since its creation in 2011, including losing track of more than $12 million in loans it had granted, failing to properly track other loans, and allowing staff to spend taxpayer money on things like iTunes gift cards and UW football tickets. Meanwhile, Wisconsin continues to rank dead last in the Midwest in job creation. WEDC has its next board meeting scheduled for Monday, July 28; Governor Walker is chair of the WEDC board.