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Mercury Marine union in Wis. rejects concessions (8000 jobs lost) Mercury Marine moving to OK
AP ^ | 8-23-09 | AP

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 ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Oklahoma; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: atlasshrugged; doyle; manufacturing; mercurymarine; obamafailurer; ok; oklahoma; unions; wi; wisconsin
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To: staytrue
So you get 40,000 working full time or 20,000 and you get to have a 2 year vacation. What do you choose ?

Depends - if times are good, one might choose the $20,000 because one could do all kinds of side work "under the table" and end up making more than $40K. BUT, times are not good and these idiots will be competing for the small handful of side jobs that might pop up from time to time.

181 posted on 08/23/2009 5:46:56 PM PDT by meyer (Do not go gentle into that good night - Rage, rage against the dying of the light.)
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To: bushwon

Please see post 129, as Indy Pendence has more detail on this travesty than I do. It’s called “combined reporting”, in lib-speak, “hand over the dough”. Indy had an earlier post on this thread that explained it better than I could remember.

What astonishes me is that gov.Doyle robbed the Transportation Fund twice in his 2 terms as gov. And it’s all legal! He just takes from the Vehicle Registration Trust Fund (supposed to build and maintain roads with that) and puts the money other places like the teacher’s union or other friends of Doyle. He’s a bad bad man.


182 posted on 08/23/2009 5:48:46 PM PDT by TheConservativeParty ("I am Sarah Palin." and "I am the NRA.")
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To: exnavy
he called me "one of those rightwing nutjobs".

Dude... I hate to point it out to you but you are posting on FR... :)

BTW, did you ask that President guy what is going to happen since they cut off the cash for clunker program?

183 posted on 08/23/2009 5:49:44 PM PDT by John123 (My Definition of Liberals - Folks who validates their existence by calling someone a racist.)
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To: Abathar
Those are good points, as well.

>I don’t trust those union leaders as far as I could throw them.

It is strange that they know that their jobs are toast along with all of the others and yet they persist.
In all of my experiences with unions, this has been the case.
I suppose it could be some sort of mob or group insanity, not to put too fine a point on it.

Hell, the steel industry in America has been devastated. - I was a steelworker back in the day, and billy joel’s “Allentown” was especially pointed to this, but even so, Pa. has become blue.

I blame federal & state education.

184 posted on 08/23/2009 5:50:51 PM PDT by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: Indy Pendance

Another Victory for the Union!


185 posted on 08/23/2009 5:52:13 PM PDT by RedhairRedhair (I love my Toyota)
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To: Joe Boucher
If the good folks of Wisconsin want to work the fry line at Wendys instead of having a great manufacturing job, so be it.

Are they competent to work the fry line and even if so with the loss of customers will they be needed?

186 posted on 08/23/2009 5:53:31 PM PDT by Eaker (If you have a problem and If explosives are an option then explosives are THE answer.)
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To: Indy Pendance

Production employees at the Conn plant in Elkhart, Indiana, voted to decertify their union earlier this month after the union kept telling them that they had voted to reject the company’s contract offer.


187 posted on 08/23/2009 5:54:38 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: MediaMole; ColdWater
Going from $40k after taxes to $20k is not “making more on unemployment.”

I never said you did. What I said was

I say you are stupid to work if they pay you not to work for nearly 2 years. Why be stupid and work ? You are practically a chump for working.

Again, do you want to work for 18 per hour after tax or collect unemployment at 11 per hour and not work.

188 posted on 08/23/2009 5:56:24 PM PDT by staytrue
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To: Indy Pendance
I grew up in Wisconsin and now live in Minnesota. What a tragedy that union thugs are so stupid that they drive the largest employer out of Fond du Lac, WI. What dumb ass idiots liberals, demoRATs & unions are!!!

I love the states of both Wisconsin & Minnesota, and the incredible beauty & hunting & fishing & agricultural backgrounds of these two states. That being said, it is bitterly disappointing that so many dumb ass people live in these two states and vote consistently for even dumber ass, anti-American, anti-business, pro-homosexual, pro-socialist rat bastards like libtards Jim Doyle, Senators Feingold & Kohl, lesbian congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, congressman David Obey, in Wisconsin, and in Minnesota, we have clown buffoon Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Walz, Collin Peterson, muslim Keith Ellison, and a whole host of libtards in states & local governments. What is the matter with the dumb asses in these two states. Get the hell out, go live in NY or CA, and let our states be run by freedom loving, free enterprise patriots.

189 posted on 08/23/2009 6:00:11 PM PDT by rcrngroup
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To: TheConservativeParty

Come on over, I live near West Bend, we have Sensenbrenner, Grothman (state senator) and LeMahieu (state rep). All three are very conservative and good guys. I believe we voted 65% republican in the last election. Gag, it was McCain, but 30K showed up in Cedarburg to see Palin last year.


190 posted on 08/23/2009 6:02:48 PM PDT by Indy Pendance ("The beauty of the 2nd is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Indy Pendance
What’s going to become of that pretty plant, with the ponds off the freeway?

Welcome to Gary, Indiana. This was the Post Office.


191 posted on 08/23/2009 6:05:07 PM PDT by Eaker (If you have a problem and If explosives are an option then explosives are THE answer.)
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To: meyer

We haven’t gotten the final tally yet, this just happened this afternoon. I’m sure tomorrow will have a number.


192 posted on 08/23/2009 6:05:56 PM PDT by Indy Pendance ("The beauty of the 2nd is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: JRandomFreeper
I have a 'who is John Galt' sticker on my truck. I have been trying to work cash only, and if this deathcare passes, I'm opting completely out of the government. No reporting anything. I'm going to Live Free Or Die. It's my constitutional right, and to hell with them. I've been stocking up on supplies, and right now, I'm about good for 2 years. Here's a nice site for additional information about Wilderness Survival
193 posted on 08/23/2009 6:09:17 PM PDT by Indy Pendance ("The beauty of the 2nd is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: GeorgiaDawg32

“if I didn’t only have 2 payments left on my F150, Ida turned it in as a clunker”

You might want to check the “clunker” list. It might not be on it.

I checked the Ranger list and only the 3.0L engines qualified a bunch of years, 2.3 and 4.0L did not.

Who know with the Zero Admin running things, bet they don’t know where the oil goes vs. the anti-freeze, if they can even open the hood.


194 posted on 08/23/2009 6:09:22 PM PDT by Eagles2003
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To: TheConservativeParty; bushwon
I have a better explanation at post 90
195 posted on 08/23/2009 6:12:36 PM PDT by Indy Pendance ("The beauty of the 2nd is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Indy Pendance

Will Oklahoma hopefully pick up 8,000 NON-Union Mercury Marine jobs?

Let’s hope.


196 posted on 08/23/2009 6:15:23 PM PDT by Frantzie (Lou Dobbs - American Hero! Bill O'Reilly = Liar)
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To: Indy Pendance
Wee wee wee’d all the way home... Fond du Lac will become a ghost town

From the cities web site,

We are consistently rated among the nation's best in quality of schools, safety and affordable living.

Well affordable living just got more affordable as housing prices will probable drop in price in that area.

197 posted on 08/23/2009 6:16:30 PM PDT by ReformedBeckite
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To: staytrue

No, you said, “If the concessions are deep enough, you probably make more on unemployment than if you worked.”


198 posted on 08/23/2009 6:17:33 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: Eaker
This is an incredible site of Detroit, it's really sad, it'll take you some time to get through it, but it's well worth it. All lib cities are turning into Detroit.
199 posted on 08/23/2009 6:17:45 PM PDT by Indy Pendance ("The beauty of the 2nd is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 50cal Smokepole
My SIL is not in the union. He's a white collar puke and doesn't have a dog in this hunt. To be honest, I don't know what the particulars were, but from local news reports (i.e. libtards) it didn't sound like they were asking for first born males.

Got it. An engineer or "management". With the way this was reported, the "union leaders" had not reported the actual tallies of the vote. If management wasn't asking for "first born males", I have serious doubts whether union members would have voted to lose their own jobs. Just a curious turn of events in these economic times.
200 posted on 08/23/2009 6:19:46 PM PDT by Girlene
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