Since it was first announced in 2017, there has been a lot of conversation about Wisconsin’s multi-billion dollar deal with Foxconn. But, Nan Enstad, a Madison-based researcher and history professor, believes there are still some things that need to be talked about in more detail: labor protections and corporate responsibility.
She explains, "There hasn’t been enough public conversation about exactly what does constitute being a good corporate citizen. I’m using that term as it came out of Tony Evers’ office a few weeks ago. What is that? What is required for someone to be a good corporate citizen?"
Enstad is the author of Cigarettes Inc: An Intimate History of Corporate Imperialism, which tells the story of the British American Tobacco Company’s investment in China. Her research was also fodder for her op-ed in the Washington Post, "How Gov. Evers can make Foxconn work for Wisconsin."
The biggest piece of advice she has is simply: oversight. "Tony Evers really needs to set in motion some real clear plans for how to keep track of what's going on and make sure that there's a mechanism for worker's voices to be heard," she says.
