Governor Tony Evers is now retreating from his previous comments that he didn’t think Foxconn would employ 13,000 people at its Mount Pleasant plant. Evers spoke to the editorial board of the Racine Journal Times and Kenosha News after meeting with Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou in Milwaukee Thursday afternoon. Evers said---how many jobs Foxconn creates “could be less, it could be more” than 13,000. THAT came after he said---last month---that it was unrealistic and difficult to imagine that Foxconn would hire that many people because it was downsizing the display screen factory it was building. Evers added that he and Gou had a great conversation and that they were building a good relationship. He also said there was a discussion of how Foxconn operations would change as Gou steps away from its daily operations to run for president of Taiwan.
Gou also met with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos---Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave---Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot---and---Jenny Trick---executive director of the Racine County Economic Development Corporation---as well as workers at the Foxconn building in Mount Pleasant. The Journal Times reports that Delagrave asked Gou to be more responsive to the media to alleviate uncertainty about the project. Gou also reportedly told the local officials that the vertical construction of the Gen6 facility will be happening in June.
Robin Vos told the newspaper that Gou’s visit was a positive step forward in the Foxconn development.