By Tiffany Craig Special Assignment Reporter
Published: Fri, March 21, 2008 - 6:28 pm
Last Updated: Sun, March 23, 2008 - 11:23 am
Last Updated: Sun, March 23, 2008 - 11:23 am
Tiffany Craig
He invited a speaker of the steel giant to address questions at a workforce development meeting.
The problems started when no one from the company showed up to address the crowd.
Then, Richardson challenged the media to start asking questions. "I want the news media to call ThyssenKrupp. Is this the kind of business you wanna conduct in Mobile County? If so, you can leave!"
It's safe to say that Fred Richardson was on a roll Thursday night. "My mama didn't raise no fool. I aint going down like that now."
The District 1 councilman didn't mince words when addressing a room full of people wanting to meet the representative from ThyssenKrupp. "Alright John, you better show up. I am writing the CEO in the morning. Fed Ex. I want them to get it the next day. Whatever happened to John, I don't care."
On Friday, Richardson and TK spokesperson Scott Posey talked. Posey says the problem turned out to be a scheduling mix up. "We look for opportunities to tell our story. If we had it on our schedule, we would have loved to participate."
Then, Richardson explains that he was misunderstood at the meeting. "Aint no way in the world I would make that statement about no company in Mobile. You come all the way from Germany to here and I'm gonna tell you to go back home?"
But that's how it sounded when our camera was rolling on Thursday. "Is this is the kind of business you wanna conduct in Mobile County? If so, you can leave!"
Councilman Richardson plans to schedule another workforce development seminar later this year. TK officials say all they need is an invitation and they'll be there!
Since News 5 Investigates started looking into this story, we have uncovered that some are concerned about who will get hired at the new 3.7 billion dollar steel mill.
We have confirmed that 2 letters have been sent to the Mobile office of ThyssenKrupp. One was sent from State Representative James Buskey and the other from the local chapter of the NAACP. They just want to make sure that everyone is included in the company's hiring process.
A representative from Atlantic Marine was also on the list of people asked to attend. We are still waiting for company officials to call us back and explain that no-show.
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Well today would have been a perfect opportunity to apologize at the council meeting...but alas....nothing. How Sad, how very sad.