Friday, September 03, 2010

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.

(8) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2049 hrs
Economy + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. The union guys and gals at Harley lived fat and happy through the nineties. Their company is terribly managed, and has little if any future…. The bikes will be novelties overseas, and for a few here, but they will never have a similar mass market appeal to what they enjoyed in the 90’s and 00’s.

    Is it the union’s fault? No, it isn’t. Do they have to suffer the consequences? Yes, they do. I’d bet that almost every person that punches in on the NW side and in Menominee falls every day owns Harley stock… They had the power to motivate the Company to make changes and come into the modern era with their products, and they were to short sighted.

    The downfall of The Company is going to be excruciating, but unless they have an innovative product line that may appeal to younger people…. Oh, wait…. They killed that project.

    You know what?


    I just don’t care. Harley has made it clear what they think of my generation. It’s not my fault that they were too busy selling overpriced dinosaurs of motorcycles to 55 year old lawyers ten years ago to notice that I was their prospective client in another decade….

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 03, 2010 at 2105 hrs


  2. Maybe.  On the other hand, maybe they thought that they’d rather sell a great bike to this 30 something lawyer, that will likely buy some more of their bikes in the coming years…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 04, 2010 at 1211 hrs


  3. While I’m not up to affording the Harley yet (I ride a Kawasaki Vulcan… yes, I know…. but I plead poverty), I look forward to one someday. I’m glad that the union was wise enough to make the smart choice here.

    ...unfortunately, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I also wonder how many of the concessions given by the union would have been unneeded if we just had a more business friendly tax climate in this state.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 04, 2010 at 1250 hrs


  4. I don’t want to make too many excuses for Harley, but they really are in a difficult situation. The bitter truth is, they type of things they need to do to appeal to a wider or different market to some extent, diminish their brand & image in their current markets.

    In some ways, Deere might be a good place for them to look. Hell even hire somebody smart who ran marketing/communications for them. Deere’s always had a great reputation & are able to charge a premium due to their quality (whether perceived or actual). They wanted to sell cheaper lawn tractors to a lower end consumer & created the Sabre line to do so without tarnishing their reputation as a higher end product. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, they ended the Sabre line & now make those same level of tractors under the Deere name.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 04, 2010 at 1521 hrs


  5. Are union concessions the only thing needed to save Harley from leaving?

    Harley’s a good company and product that will do just fine once the economy improves.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 05, 2010 at 1030 hrs


  6. People to blame
    1. Tax crazy legislators who don’t understand the ramifications of combined reporting.
    2. A new CEO who knows little of motorcycles seeing he never owned one and is paid more than 10 million a year and isn’t interested in sharing in the sacrifice. Old CEO was paid less than 2 mil.
    3. A company and workforce that doesn’t understand their product is overpriced and outdated for most of its likely consumers.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 06, 2010 at 0811 hrs


  7. Best wishes!

    Posted by juicy couture outlet online on September 08, 2010 at 2154 hrs


  8. Tomahawk have unanimously recommended approval of a labor contract that would save about 1,700 Wisconsin jobs at the motorcycle manufacturer.

    Posted by david on September 26, 2010 at 0144 hrs


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.