Progress on Harley Contracts

Good.

Bargaining committees of the unions representing Harley-Davidson employees in Milwaukee and Tomahawk have unanimously recommended approval of a labor contract that would save about 1,700 Wisconsin jobs at the motorcycle manufacturer.

Union employees in Milwaukee will get details of the proposed contract on Tuesday, company and union sources said Friday.

Tomahawk employees will get the details of their proposed contract on Wednesday.

The contract offers would be voted on Sept. 13 by Harley-Davidson employees in Milwaukee and Tomahawk.

If ratified by the memberships of the United Steelworkers of America and the Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the new contracts would take effect in April 2012 when the current contracts expire.

Thus far, company and union officials have not disclosed terms of the proposed contract.

As I’ve said in the past, I don’t think that Harley’s problems are exclusively the fault of the union.  But given that they are in an industry that is more susceptible than most to a soft economy, the union and management need to be even more flexible.  Good for the union. Hopefully they ratify the contract and keep these jobs in Wisconsin.

Court Rules To Reinstate Minimum Profit Law

Argh.

Madison - A federal appeals court Friday revived Wisconsin’s controversial minimum markup law on gasoline sales after a lower court last year blocked enforcement of it.

The decision means the 1939 law aimed at protecting small-time gas station operators will once again be enforced in the state. Many mom-and-pop operators have said the law prevents them from being run out of business by companies that could sell gas at or below cost.

But opponents of the law - including some small shops - have maintained it stifles competition and costs drivers an extra 1 to 8 cents a gallon.

In February 2009, Chief U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa in Milwaukee froze enforcement of the Wisconsin law, ruling that it violated the federal Sherman Act, an antitrust law that bars restraint of trade between states.

State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, then decided not to appeal the federal court’s decision. Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, also supported leaving the law dead - an illustration of the unusual way the intensely contested issue cuts across established political lines.

But the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association successfully intervened in the case and won the appellate decision reinstating the law.

The decision reopens the decades-long debate in Madison over whether the law should be kept in place. Two of the candidates for governor said they supported the markup law, and none of them called for repealing it.

This also highlights a tangible difference between Walker and Neumann:

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann of Nashotah, a Republican, normally opposes government involvement in markets but said he supports the markup law.

“It’s a fine line to walk on this one,” he said.

Without the law, big companies could lower prices temporarily, drive competitors out of business and then raise prices, he said.

“I want the market to work . . . ,” he said. “You can’t create situations where competition is going to be destroyed.”

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, the other major Republican in the race, stopped short of saying he supported the law, but said his focus was on finding other ways to lower gas prices rather than repealing it.

“The biggest reason to act on it would be if you could see a noticeable change in prices, but everything I’ve seen thus far suggests that it wouldn’t be,” Walker said. “It’s really about the oil supply or the fuel supply. And that’s why I’d be focused on making sure we’re connected to more refineries.”

Neumann is wrong.  You can’t believe in the free market and support the minimum markup law.  They are contrary concepts.

Where In The World?

This one might be a little tough.  It has an important significance from something that happened there between about 1,000 AD and 1,900 AD (how’s that for narrowing it down) and a somewhat important significance during the 20th century. 

UPDATE: This may be a first.  Nobody got it after three days.  So… here it is.  That little village to the northwest of the airbase used to be called Mollwitz.  This is the site of Frederick II, a.k.a. Frederick the Great’s, first battlefield victory.  To be fair, he left the battle when it appeared to be lost and it was won by his underlings, but it remains the site where he first won martial fame and reset the nature of international relations within Europe in 1741. 

The battle took place mostly on the site of the airbase that was used by both the Nazis and the Soviet Union before being decommissioned several years ago.

Getting Ready For Football Season

New Employment Numbers

May we please have our economy back, Mr. Presdient?

Companies added a net total of 67,000 new jobs last month and both July and June’s private-sector job figures were upwardly revised, the Labor Department said Friday.

[...]

Overall, the economy lost 54,000 jobs as 114,000 temporary census positions came to an end. For the first time this year, the manufacturing sector lost jobs - down a net total of 27,000 for the month. The auto industry accounted for 22,000 of those lost jobs, the department said. But those losses were largely due to a shift in the timing of the industry’s summer shutdowns.

State and local governments shed 10,000 positions and have had net jobs losses in every month but one this year.

[...]

Temporary employment rose by nearly 17,000, after a slight loss in July. That indicates employers are looking to boost their work forces, but are reluctant to do so permanently. Temporary hiring averaged 45,000 per month from October to May, but has since slowed.

The jobless rate rose to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July. More than a half-million Americans resumed their job searches in August, which drove up the jobless rate. When the unemployed stop looking for work, they are no longer counted in the jobless rate. It’s the first time the labor force has grown since April.

More Downtime

The blog will be down for a short period tomorrow as I try once again to upgrade the software.  Let’s hope this attempt goes smoother than the last…