Scramble To House Ford Megasite Workers Begins

By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

February 22, 2022

Celebrations for the $5.6 billion Ford Motor electric truck and battery plant are over as state and local officials run headlong into the reality of a massive construction project.

Ford has inked a contract with Detroit, Michigan-based Walbridge, a global contractor that specializes in large manufacturing projects for Ford and General Motors, and ground is expected to be broken in March, according to state officials.

But before local leaders get too excited about the impact of the 5,800-employee plant on the 4,100-acre Haywood County state-owned site, they’ve got to figure out how to play host to some 30,000 construction workers who will descend on the tract over the next three years. Blue Oval City, which is projected to be Ford’s largest and most environmentally friendly manufacturing plant, is slated to open in 2025.

State Sen. Page Walley, a Bolivar Republican who represents Haywood County and much of rural West Tennessee, estimates about 6,000 workers will be building the electric truck and battery plants at any given time. Figuring out where those people live, eat and play during their time on the construction site is part of the equation.

“I don’t know, we’re kind of building it on the fly in some ways, building this city quickly. I wish I knew more,” Walley says.

Some could stay in Jackson or Memphis, which are both about 45 miles from the Memphis Regional Megasite. But hotels in Bolivar, Brownsville and Somerville will likely be turned into short-term housing, and locations are being sought for RV parks, according to Walley.

Serendipity, a resort layout in Brownsville, could play a role in the solution, along with food trucks to keep workers fueled.

Temporary accommodations could require some water and sewer pump-and-haul options, as well, and local leaders are working on those necessities, the senator notes.

State Sen. Ed Jackson, a Jackson Republican, acknowledges housing is the biggest concern for construction workers as the project begins. Feeding workers and providing water and sewer remain nagging questions, as well.

“Everyone’s kind of scrambling around to have the infrastructure for them,” Jackson says.

Jackson points out that construction workers are probably accustomed to moving around. But he also notes that the state can’t expect them to live in hotels for years at a time.

Tipton County Mayor Jeff Huffman, a member of the newly-formed Megasite Authority of West Tennessee, is knee-deep in trying to figure out how to handle the influx of workers. Not only is the $5.6 billion investment the largest ever in Tennessee, “the location is also unprecedented,” he says.

“How do you provide urban-type services in a completely rural area?” Huffman asks.

In the short term, a former Core Civic prison in Tipton County could be used for an RV park for construction workers, the mayor says.

Regional plans are being made for infrastructure, housing and transportation to meet the population growth likely to follow the construction phase and manufacturing operations, he adds.

Municipalities don’t have the tax base to support large utility projects, such as construction of wastewater treatment plants, so they’re looking for state and federal funds to undertake infrastructure work, according to Huffman.

The Department of Economic and Community Development is “backing away,” to a degree, from the Blue Oval City project, according to Commissioner Bob Rolfe, following formation of the megasite authority and appointment of former Transportation Commissioner Clay Bright as chief executive officer of the entity charged with overseeing the project.

Rolfe is less concerned with housing construction workers than the next economic development project.

“Ford Motor Co. tells us they build these plants all over the globe, and while this is the largest project they’ve undertaken, they’ve never had a challenge to try to figure out how to create a labor shed to complete the construction on time,” Rolfe says.

In fact, the Economic and Community Development Department has shifted its emphasis to helping the surrounding communities deal with the “anxiety” of having a $5.6 billion asset dropped into the midst of the state’s most rural region, he says.

The state will play a key role in recruiting suppliers but can’t take on the responsibility of tasks such as building homes, sidewalks and schools. In the short term, a former Core Civic prison in Tipton County could be transformed into an RV park for construction workers.

The commissioner predicts several suppliers will locate at the megasite tract to ease the supply chain.

But while the state will play a key role in recruiting suppliers, it can’t take on the responsibility of local tasks such as building schools, sidewalks, homes, hospitals and emergency services facilities.

Instead, increases in local tax revenue, which will shift to sales tax and property tax revenue, rather than greenbelt revenue derived from farmland, will help fund local needs, Rolfe says.

The union question

United Auto Workers officials in Tennessee predicted last year the Ford Motor facility will have a union presence. The prospect caused heartburn for some conservative lawmakers who approved nearly $900 million in incentives to bring Blue Oval City to the regional megasite.

That prospect was backed up last December when Ford signed an agreement with a trade union representative group covering the 30,000 construction jobs projected to build the facility over the next three years, the Tennessee Journal reported. The move likely reflects the company’s desire to maintain its long working relationship with the UAW.

The agreement calls for 13 million to 15 million hours of “craft labor” to build a $2.5 billion electric truck facility, including site work and stamping, paint and assembly plant construction, the TNJ reported. A $3.1 billion SK battery manufacturing joint venture has not been negotiated, according to the report.

Labor contracts will limit the number of workers a non-union contractor can hire without those employees going through a union system.

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