Posted on 08/23/2009 3:10:52 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Union workers at Mercury Marine put their jobs at risk Sunday when they rejected a package of wage and benefit concessions the boat engine maker said it needed or it would move their work to a nonunion plant in Oklahoma.
Union leaders did not immediately release Sunday's tally but said the vote was "overwhelming" to reject what the company called its final offer.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local 1947, represents 850 workers at Mercury Marine, the largest employer in the eastern Wisconsin city of Fond du Lac and the world's largest manufacturer of boat and recreational marine engines.
Mercury Marine issued a statement after the vote saying it will move many of its Fond du Lac manufacturing operations to its facility in Stillwater, Okla., over the next two to three years. The company said it would continue to operate the Fond du Lac facility for now under the terms and conditions of the existing contract, which expires in 2012.
"This has been a very difficult and stressful process for all involved," Mark Schwabero, president of Mercury Marine, said in a statement. "We will work closely with our team in Fond du Lac to develop and communicate a transition plan for this 24-36 month process."
Mercury Marine spokesman Steve Fleming had said last week that if the offer was rejected, the union and company could resume talks and hold another vote this coming Saturday, but its offer would not change.
Local 1947 President Mark Zillges said Friday there would be no further negotiations. He did not immediately return a phone call Sunday seeking comment.
Fond du Lac city manager Thomas Herre called the vote "a huge disappointment."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“I wonder who has put more people out of work. Obama or the unions.”
I don’t know, but we’ll find out at the end of the month when the contest ends. Winner gets a set of Taylor Made R7’s.
Yes it is! By a Democrap’s Math:-) When you can make less than half as much sitting on your arse for a year, pretend it might last two years and forget that you will be living in poverty from there on out with not a job in sight and you are happy with that watching your family starve, then you have reached the highest pnnacle of Demorat Liberalism:-)
So what’s the big deal...they don’t have to work to get stimuli bucks. /s
1. The Good News:
The jobs stay in the United States.
2. The Bad News:
The current regime will try to block this type of activity, which means the jobs won’t stay in the United States.
From local news accounts, this is a non-union plant. Reports today say as many as 11,000 jobs could be affected across the state, and up to 600+ million dollars lost.
Huh? has to be a union plant. I am glad they are losing the jobs and moving the plant to a right to work state.
Obama just named an AFL-CIO union goon as the head of teh NY Federal Reserve Bank which is a big deal. The NY Fed is the biggie.
OOPS, I meant the plant in OK is non-union, in WI, 850 out of 2000 are union, sorry......
Not to worry. Maybe BO can "diversify" the place with some vibrant Section 8 folks from Chi-town--That'll perk it right up......
Dealing with 2 states on Income tax must have been a big pain...:O(
The real story behind Mercury Marine's labor collapse
There's a retirement angle to this story. I never considered that. I still blame the union and the left, but I now understand why they voted that way.
Tennesee will never secede. Memphis loves Obama too much.
Thanks for posting that link with further details on the retirement angle. The article certainly filled in some blanks and showed that there are shades of gray within most controversies. I am not a fan of unions and have never been part of one or worked at a company that had one. That said, if there is a union in place, there is still basic fair dealing required of all parties.
The comments following the article are also a good read.
Who bombed it?
They will still have a Union in OK, correct? Just under different rules, right?
Some articles I’ve read indicate Stillwater OK is a non union facility.....
Hard to feel sorry for them. They are probably the same Union useful idiots that were told to vote for Obama and they did. Now they got the change they voted for. The entire City of Fond du Lac had signs all over it this week urging members to vote yes and keep the jobs in Wisconsin.
Yeah, or empty it out completely. Nothing left but the degenerates and savages.
8,000 was an early estimate. Non-union jobs will be lost also and other companies that provide products for Mercury will leave the state or just die off. The latest number I have heard is if Mercury Marine leaves WI, up to 11,000 jobs will be lost in WI.
Congrats to OK!
Now Obama has even more union peeps to bus in at townhall meetings around the country. Everything seems to be going by the plan.
A couple of bulldozers could easily push Memphis into the Mississippi River.
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