Labor union leaders and members are hoping they can bank on promises made by President Joe Biden and Microsoft at a Biden event Wednesday in Racine County.
Microsoft has started to build a large data center complex, partly on land in Mount Pleasant that had been set aside for Foxconn, before that technology firm scaled back promises for a huge campus that would have eventually employed 13,000 people.
Speaking at nearby Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Biden reminded the audience that nearly six years ago, then-President Donald Trump, who likely will be Biden’s main opponent in this November’s election, had been a big backer of Foxconn.
“In fact, he came here with your Sen. Ron Johnson (R) literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the Eighth Wonder of the World. You kidding me? Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it," Biden said.
Foxconn reportedly only employs about one thousand people in Wisconsin.
Biden also announced that Microsoft is promising to expand the Racine County data center beyond the firm’s original announcement. Company president Brad Smith says that, over the next three years, Microsoft will invest $3.3 billion in the area.
Smith says that includes an artificial intelligence-related project at UW-Milwaukee.
“The first of its kind in the United States — a manufacturing-focused AI co-innovation lab. It will be at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — at the Connected Systems Institute. We literally will have the opportunity to help hundreds of companies, hundreds of manufacturing companies, come in, so they can design new AI-based systems that will ensure that Wisconsin manufacturing remains at the forefront of global competitiveness," Smith said.
Smith praised state and local leaders for supporting Microsoft’s plans. He commended Biden for backing the Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Smith also complimented organized labor.
Rico Edmondson is a member of the Laborers Union and has already been working to help build the Microsoft data center. He says the announced expansion is good news.
“That’s really good for me. Good for me and my brothers and sisters in all the trades, you know. More work means more money, to be honest with you," Edmonson said, laughing.
Pam Fendt is President of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. She also hopes to eventually organize the people who will work inside the data centers and doesn’t expect opposition from Microsoft.
“There’s a historic framework agreement between the AFL-CIO and Microsoft to keep a labor peace situation. So, we have great faith that these end-use jobs will also be union. There’s already organizing attention being paid to it for all of these investments," Fendt tells WUWM.
Wisconsin Republicans also praised Microsoft's job announcement. But they say Biden should not get the credit—pointing instead to leaders in Racine County and the company itself.
State GOP Chairperson Brian Schimming says the economic growth in the county started years ago.
"A lot of what has happened down there started under Governor (Scott) Walker and President Trump. So, for the President to come in and say, ‘Hey, I helped get all these jobs here in Racine County' just isn’t accurate," Schimming claimed during a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday.
Republicans also repeatedly claimed Biden isn’t doing enough to reduce inflation.
Next Thursday, Vice-President Kamala Harris is scheduled to visit Milwaukee, on an Economic Opportunity Tour. She’s likely to talk about the creation of Black-owned businesses, erasing medical debt and reducing student loan debt.
