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Home > BizTimes Daily > Archives > September 3, 2010
Wisconsin union leaders and Harley reach tentative agreement
Published September 3, 2010 - BizTimes Daily
On this Labor Day weekend, union leaders representing about 1,400 Wisconsin employees of Harley-Davidson Inc. and the company have reached an agreement on contract concessions that the company says it needs to keep production work in the state.
About 1,400 Wisconsin union workers of Harley will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to hear about the wage and benefit concessions the company says it will need.
The members of United Steelworkers of America Local 2209 in Milwaukee and Local 460 of Tomahawk will meet, as will members of the International Association of Machinists Lodge 78.
Union leaders and company officials have been negotiating since July. A union spokesman told BizTimes that union leadership and the company have agreed upon a basic proposal that would keep production work in Wisconsin. Union members are scheduled to vote on the proposal on Monday, Sept. 13.
“We got a proposal from the company on what it would take to continue operations in Wisconsin and to retain the manufacturing and the jobs in Wisconsin,” the spokesman said. “The parties have been talking since July. The company said it needed to make a decision on its future plans by the middle of September. The union is presenting to the membership something that they say will retain the work in Wisconsin.”
The company has threatened to move production work to Kansas City, Mo, if it cannot achieve the lower labor costs in Wisconsin.
