Records show Foxconn offshored 155 jobs to Mexico

According to records recently obtained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Taiwan-based telecom company said in a filing in Indiana in November 2018 that it would lay off 155 workers at a computer factory outside Indianapolis, citing “changes in our business and production objectives.” The records also indicated that the Labor Department in February determined that the jobs were eliminated because the company had shifted some production to Mexico. Foxconn officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company told the Indianapolis Business Journal in November that the plant in Plainfield, Indiana, was operated by a subsidiary firm and added that the layoffs would not affect other Foxconn-related companies. The 155 jobs amount to a small fraction of Foxconn’s global workforce, which stood at 988,000 at the end of 2017, according to its corporate responsibility report. Currently, the company has been under scrutiny for failing to meet job-creation targets at a newer facility in Wisconsin, which it unveiled plans for at a White House ceremony in 2017. The intentions were hailed by Trump as proof of success that he was reviving American manufacturing. Since taking office, Trump has threatened penalize companies who ship jobs to other countries and last week warned of imposing tariffs on Mexican products due to the ongoing immigration issues at the U.S.-Mexico border. Foxconn’s Wisconsin project, a 20-million-sq-foot research facility and liquid crystal display plant would be the largest greenfield investment by a foreign-based company in U.S. history, with an employment base of 13,000. But Foxconn has recently suggested that it has been reconsidering its plans. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said in April that he wants to renegotiate the deal, secured with USD 4 billion in tax breaks, because Foxconn is not expected to reach its job creation goals for the state. Evers, a Democrat, inherited the project from his predecessor, Republican Scott Walker. Foxconn has said it remains committed to its agreement, and company chairman Terry Gou met with Trump at the White House last month to discuss the project. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.