Companies That Get WEDC Support Are Still Outsourcing Jobs, Says Nonprofit

The group Citizen Action of Wisconsin says that the state’s private-public job creation agency hasn’t lived up to its promise to close loopholes that allow companies receiving tax credits or loans to outsource jobs.

Robert Kraig of Citizen Action said that while the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has restrictions on outsourcing for companies receiving loans or tax credits, they don’t actually prevent the practice.

“The only things that seem to have been done is a 30-day notice for layoffs for any company receiving WEDC dollars, and then a requirement that WEDC dollars themselves not be used for outsourcing,” he said. “But nothing that says the company couldn’t use other funds for outsourcing at the same time it was taking state job creation dollars.”

WEDC spokesman Mark Maley wrote in an emailed statement that the agency has put new language in contracts for companies that get loans or tax credits barring them from using any WEDC money to outsource jobs. He declined to confirm whether that restriction prevents companies from offsetting outsourcing they may do, by using WEDC grants to create jobs in Wisconsin.

The issue of job outsourcing has been a hot topic in the race for governor, with both Democrat Mary Burke and Gov. Scott Walker having said that they wouldn’t use tax dollars to subsidize companies that send jobs out of state.