Dive Brief:
- Gilbane Building Co., part of the joint venture that will be building the $10 billion Foxconn LCD screen factory in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, announced it will set local hiring goals for the project, including hiring a minimum of 60% Wisconsin companies, according to the Kenosha News.
- The construction team of Gilbane and M+W Group has also set additional hiring benchmarks — 70% of hours on the project worked by Wisconsin residents (10% of those by minorities, women and veterans); 10% of subcontractors based in local Racine County; and 10% of the project staffed by women, minority or veteran-owned businesses, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
- Gilbane said the joint venture will begin hiring for preliminary project phases in the next few months and then through the rest of the year for longer-term segments. The plant will eventually take up 20 million square feet and employ 13,000 workers in a deal that will see the state give the company a $3 billion incentive package.
Dive Insight:
Some hiring policies are voluntary, while some are required. Contractors that don't meet mandatory hiring goals certainly could face public relations issues, but others have to deal with the financial fallout.
Contractors performing work on the Detroit Red Wing's new $863 million Little Caesars Arena were obligated to use at least 51% local residents as part of their workforces, but fell short of those requirements. Workers put in almost 3 million hours on the project, but Detroit residents worked only 25% of the total. In Detroit, the strict hiring mandate is required for projects that receive brownfield tax abatements or where developers are able to purchase city land for below-market prices. The inability to meet those workforce goals has cost Little Caesars Arena contractors $5.2 million in fines.
Representatives from the city previously said that the contractors working on the arena tried their best to recruit local residents through job fairs and offers of training but that there just weren't enough skilled workers living in the area to meet the demand. The city said that the lowest levels of resident participation were in skilled trade positions like steel work, electrical, plumbing and carpentry. City officials said the fines would be used to train workers for future projects.
