General Electric Co (GE) chief executive Jeff Immelt is pledging to spend US$50 million on a series of initiatives in Boston, including US$25 million on government schools, as his company prepares to move its headquarters to the city.
The announcement came as Immelt joined Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Monday to unveil more details about the company’s decision to move its headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut.
GE is to occupy two buildings and build a third in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood.
Photo: AP
Immelt said the move would create about 4,000 temporary and permanent jobs.
Immelt said the company plans to move into temporary offices in August and ultimately bring 800 new workers to the area.
He predicted the move would inject more than US$1 billion into the local economy.
Photo: AP
Immelt said the company was drawn to Boston because of its determination not to lose out to Silicon Valley on the growth of the “industrial Internet.”
“The other thing I like about Boston is that you have a chip on your shoulder,” Immelt said. “I love that.”
Baker said GE and Massachusetts are a good match.
He said that 40 percent of workers in the state are part of the “innovation economy.”
Baker predicted that other companies would relocate to the Boston area in part because GE is doing so.
As part of the US$50 million package unveiled on Monday, Immelt said GE would fund a career laboratory to help prepare students for jobs using advanced manufacturing technology.
The company would also spend US$15 million on community health centers and US$10 million to expand diversity in the healthcare, science and technology fields.
Protesters gathered outside the press conference to highlight the millions of US dollars in tax breaks and public incentives, including the prospect of free rent on city-owned land, used to lure the company to Boston.
Susan Strelec, a 70-year-old protester from the city’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, braved snow, wind and icy sidewalks in front of the high-rise office building where the press conference was being held to voice her concerns.
Strelec said the city and state should be more focused on improving schools, shelters for homeless people and fixing public transportation rather than offering sweet deals to big corporations.
“I hate injustice. I hate corporate greed. I hate stupidity,” said Strelec, a member of the Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, one of the groups protesting the agreement.
Walsh defended the deal, saying it would end up generating more tax revenue by renovating the two warehouses on city-owned land, rather than letting them remain as they are for the next 10 to 15 years.
Walsh also pointed to the US$25 million pledge to Boston schools by GE, which he said was a direct result of the deal.
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