Posted on 07/30/2015 2:37:37 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - For Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, there's something awkward about the Harley-Davidson motorcycles that he has been posing on at presidential campaign stops: each one bears a sticker on its frame that reads "Union made in the USA."
Walker has made the iconic American brand a centerpiece of his campaign kick-off tour this month, visiting four dealerships and sometimes showing off his own 2003 Harley Road King as he seeks to harness its appeal to older white male voters.
But there is another side to Harley that the Republican candidate has been less vocal about - it is a leading example of a successful company that has a strong relationship with labor unions.
Walker, by contrast, has made his union-busting credentials the foundation of his White House bid, touting it as the prime example of his leadership success and as evidence of how he can defeat powerful vested interests and even foreign enemies.
It's not clear how he can reconcile his love of the powerful, deep-rumbling bikes known as "hogs" with the strong union loyalties of those who build them.
Some of the people who build Harleys - more than a thousand of whom are unionized workers in Wisconsin - are fuming over Walker's prominent use of the bikes in his campaign.
"He's trying to make a name for himself by saying 'I took on 100,000 union workers' - and he's on our bikes," said Andy Voelzke, 57, who works at Harley's plant just outside Milwaukee and is a member of the United Steelworkers union.
"It's just such a contradiction."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Walker is mostly trying to bust the STRANGLEHOLD that the GOVERNMENT unions have on the taxpayers.
The union didn’t build it. Harley did.
I get annoyed at union made/union pride stuff. You’re a cog in the machine.
Looks like a lot of the “Reagan Democrat” type voters don’t see it that way.
Back in 2009: Employees at Harley-Davidson Inc.’s largest factory agreed to job cuts of nearly 50%, more work-rule flexibility and an unusually long labor deal, in exchange for the motorcycle maker’s commitment to invest $90 million in the plant.
The unusual seven-year pact at the company’s massive York, Pa., plant represents an acknowledgment by the plant’s work force of the vulnerability of well-paid U.S. manufacturing jobs. Harley had threatened to move the jobs from York to a new plant in Kentucky if the union rejected the contract.
He rides his Harley in spite of union thuggery. Hopefully he didn’t buy one made on a Monday or a Friday. And governor.....if it stops leaking....make sure there’s oil in the tank.
A mostly disruptive cog at that.
Funny, I don’t remember Harley’s being PUBLIC SECTOR union made...
Now read the article.
Sigh - those with diminished mental capacity are starting to scrape the bottom of their barrels in an effort to trash Cruz/Trump/Walker. Should be good news for our side that they have nothing with any meat on the bones - should protect our guys from having to defend from lies by being able to come right out and shove it back in their faces....
Most union employees hate the company they work for. I see it all the time at a local GM plant. It’s so fun to watch the interaction between employee and management.
You named my top 3. I’m not totally sold on Walker yet, however, some people are too ignorant to know the difference between public and private unions. No wonder this country is in such a mess - too many LIV voters and ignorance.
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...and you make sure the machine costs more too....
AND those (2ndDivisionVet) who seem to sympathize with the ‘bottom of barrel scrapers’...
...I almost commented on this...then I stepped back, and wondered exactly where you are going with that comment.
And off cause the globalist open-borders/free-trade fake conservatives in the press (and on FR) will fail to mention that Reagan did this by imposing tariffs on Japanese motocycles when he concluded that they were using unfair trade practices.
Reagan was for open “fair trade” not phony “free trade.”
Today, America's economic (and often also military) enemies are given carte blanche for unlimited unfair trade practices by America's left and the GOPe right.
Yes indeed - private sector unions are generally counter productive....private sector union compulsion is immoral as are all public sector unions.
The next hit piece will be that Walker wears underwear made in China which proves he’s anti-American, anti-union.
I rest my case. You entirely missed my point.
Trying for nuanced irony? If not, your post doesn't seem to be on the mark.
If I misinterpreted, please set me straight - too many possible angles to determine the exact intent/meaning of what you said and a lot of your stuff is crystal clear and sensible.
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