United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 578 members, who work at Oshkosh Defense Corporation, have a long and proud history of delivering high-quality vehicles for the U.S. government. Together, we are fighting to build the next generation of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) delivery vehicles union-made in Wisconsin. The campaign is heating up.
Senator Tammy Baldwin and Michigan Senator Gary Peters recently sent a letter to Oshkosh Defense Corp. CEO and President questioning the company’s decision to build the next generation of USPS trucks in another state instead of Wisconsin. In the letter, the Senators ask the company for additional information on the production decision making process.
Senator Baldwin and Senator Peters write:
“Oshkosh Defense has a long and proud history of manufacturing military vehicles in Wisconsin with skilled union labor. However, we are concerned about your recent decision to manufacture the trucks in a newly acquired facility, with new hires, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. We urge you to further scrutinize the final production location based on the strength of Oshkosh’s existing workforce. Oshkosh has a longstanding and skilled workforce in Wisconsin, with robust experience in manufacturing trucks for government service. As such, we are writing to better understand the process that led to the award of the contract and the decision to produce the NGDV at a new facility in South Carolina.”
Thank you to Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin and Senator Gary Peters of Michigan for supporting the efforts to maintain high-quality union jobs in Oshkosh.
Both the UAW and the AFL-CIO have raised concerns having to do with the environmental impact of building in another state, instead of utilizing existing facilities with an existing workforce in Wisconsin.
The AFL-CIO sent a letter to President Biden on November 22 stating the Postal Service has missed an opportunity to amplify the power of the contract by failing to use high-road union manufacturing to build the next generation of mail trucks. The letter urges President Biden to call on the USPS to amend the required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with an environmental analysis of building in a new facility as opposed to an existing facility with a trained workforce.
The UAW has submitted comment on the draft Environmental Impact Statement highlighting the fact that the current draft EIS fails to take a hard look at the environmental and socioeconomic impacts associated with the manufacturing of the vehicles and asks the postal service to hold back from further commitments on the contract until it fully completes the required environmental impact statement, addressing the omitted issues and allowing for public comment.
Building union is building better. UAW Local 578 workers in Oshkosh are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides for fair wages, increased safety, family-sustaining benefits, and the growth of our middle class. We can and should be building the new trucks for the United States Postal Service at the Wisconsin headquarters of Oshkosh Corporation where there is a highly skilled union workforce ready and able to build the new USPS fleet.
Click here to add your name to the UAW petition calling for the trucks to be union-made.
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