Community Advocates and Workers Raise Red Flags Around Siemens Walpole Expansion, Call on German Manufacturing Giant to "Be A Good Neighbor"

WALPOLE, Mass., Oct. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, a coalition of community and labor groups will launch a public awareness campaign calling on multinational manufacturing giant Siemens AG to respect workers and residents in the Massachusetts town of Walpole. The "Siemens: Be A Good Neighbor" campaign will call attention to the concerns from area residents that the company will fail to create enough safe and family-sustaining jobs during their ongoing plant expansion in Walpole, a primarily residential town located about 13 miles from Downtown Boston. The campaign will also raise concerns held by Walpole residents about massive tax breaks handed to Siemens, and the problem of traffic congestion the expansion is expected to create. 

The coalition will hold a major rally in Walpole on Thursday, October 19 and has begun to reach out to community members via phone-bank and canvasses in the affected neighborhoods. In addition, the campaign will include an informational website (SiemensBeAGoodNeighbor.com), supported by significant ad buys, and active grassroots petitions gathering.

There is growing frustration among many Walpole residents who see the town as getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the Siemens' expansion deal. The company will receive $21 million in tax breaks from Walpole (an average savings of 75 percent on its property tax for 20 years), plus another $4.2 million in tax breaks from the state. Many are now calling for slowing down the slated expansion for further community input and review.

"There's going to be new truck traffic, choking already congested roads. Yet, Siemens is off the hook. Walpole residents will bear the brunt of it, in terms of both our money for road repairs and updates, and the inconvenience and headaches it will create," said Walpole resident Brian Hart. "If Siemens isn't hiring locally and they're not investing in the local community, what exactly are we getting out of this huge tax giveaway?"

The Siemens expansion will include an additional 250,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in the heart of a key commercial and residential area in Walpole. The area slated for Siemens' expansion, located on Coney Street between I-95 and US-1 suffers from serious traffic congestion and includes a nearby daycare, public schools, multiple local businesses, and a mall, as well as residential communities. Residents wonder what the construction and a potential huge influx of trucks moving Siemens products from the facility to locations across the region will mean for local traffic and the quality of life for Walpole residents in the area immediately surrounding the expanded facility.

"There are plenty of Walpole area residents who are eager to find good jobs in construction and manufacturing. We are calling on Siemens to hire locally and to select contractors who support our community by providing fair wages and benefits, and access to certified training programs that lead to career pathways while improving safety. Residents are also calling on Siemens to provide more detailed plans on how they'll avoid creating traffic problems and how they will better support the community after receiving these massive tax breaks," said Brian Doherty, General Agent of the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District (MetroBTC) whose jurisdiction includes Walpole. MetroBTC is one of the protest sponsors. "Hiring more workers locally and increasing their community benefit support is the least Siemens can do for the taxpayers and residents of Walpole. Siemens will benefit enormously from more than $25 million in tax breaks, money that could be going to schools and public safety in Walpole. It would be sad and ironic if the residents who gave the tax breaks don't see some of the benefits, too. It's time for Siemens to be good neighbor."

Siemens has yet to commit to hiring more local workers or union labor to either build or staff the massive Walpole expansion, where Siemens will manufacture high-end medical diagnostic equipment. The Walpole location provides Siemens with unparalleled access to the incredibly lucrative Boston metro biotech and medical markets. Some wonder whether it was necessary to allow Siemens, a German multinational corporation with profits of $94 billion in 2016, to receive a $21 million tax break to close the expansion deal in Walpole.

SOURCE Building and Construction Trades of the Metropolitan District