Wisconsin residents cheered when Oshkosh Defense, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer, won a large contract to build a new generation of post office delivery vehicles – up to 165,000 – but now Wisconsinites are fuming about the company’s decision to produce those vehicles in South Carolina, rather than Wisconsin.
Many Oshkosh Defense workers are wearing buttons to work, saying, “We Can Build This.” These workers, members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), say they’re dismayed that the company – unionized since 1938 – plans to do postal vehicle production in one of the nation’s most anti-union states. UAW Local 578 in Oshkosh has collected over 1,500 signatures urging the company to rescind its South Carolina decision, and Wisconsin’s unions are planning a big rally in February to further pressure Oshkosh Defense.