Okla. plant to lose jobs if concessions pass

Merc Marine: Oklahoma plant to lose jobs if Fond du Lac union approves concessions

• By Robert Imrie, Associated Press Writer
• On 8:13 am EDT, Thursday September 3, 2009

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- Some jobs at an Oklahoma plant will be eliminated if the labor union at an eastern Wisconsin plant approves a package of wage and benefit concessions in a contentious revote, a Mercury Marine spokesman said Wednesday.

But not all the work from Stillwater, Okla., will be shifted to Fond du Lac if union members voting Thursday and Friday approve the concessions, spokesman Steve Fleming said. He had no other details.

The Stillwater plant has 380 nonunion jobs making boat engines and the two plants have some common functions, he said, meaning jobs involving redundancies would be the first to be shifted.

Fleming said there are no plans at this point to close the Stillwater plant.

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local 1947, on Aug. 23 rejected the concessions package that the company called its best and last offer to keep 850 manufacturing jobs -- averaging $20 an hour -- from moving to Stillwater.

The company said the deadline for the seven-year deal passed at midnight Saturday before a second vote was finished. President Mark Schwabero announced the company would continue to operate under the existing contract and begin planning to move jobs to Stillwater -- causing elation there.

But the union and company said Tuesday that state and local officials helped find a way for the two sides to agree to another vote.

"The contract they are voting on is 100 percent exactly the same as the last contract," Fleming said Wednesday. Mercury Marine extended the deal's deadline until Friday.

The latest developments caused confusion Wednesday in Stillwater.

"We're frustrated but we're not going to give up," said Josh McKim, executive director of economic development for the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce. "This is not over with by a long shot."

Mercury Marine, the world's largest manufacturer of boat and recreational marine engines, said the union concessions in Fond du Lac did not involve pay cuts, but the union said workers were asked to give up 2 percent raises in each of the last two years of their current contract, which expires in 2012. The concessions also called for lower wages for new hires and workers called back from layoffs, plus changes in work rules and pension benefits.

Mercury Marine says it must eliminate production capacity given the economic downturn and a shrinking market for recreational boats and motors. The company said without the concessions, an additional 900 jobs in its Fond du Lac corporate headquarters were also at risk.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Mercury Marine could add more than 600 jobs in Fond du Lac should it decide to stay and take advantage of state tax incentives.

How fast those jobs would be added depends on the economy and how quickly people start buying outboard motors again, he said.

Doyle wouldn't say on a telephone conference call whether he thought the concessions Mercury Marine sought were fair. He said he was "very pleased" that another vote was taking place.

Fond du Lac City Manager Thomas Herre said the mood in town was hopeful but refused to predict what happens next.

"Hopefully there will be a very minimal amount of misunderstanding," he said.

Meanwhile, the union's chief negotiator said Wednesday that he has quit. Dan Longsine said he was disappointed with some union officials over the turmoil of obtaining the second vote.

Longsine said he had no idea what will happen in the revote. Since 2000, the union has tended to reject a contract proposal and then vote a second time to pass it, he said.

Mercury Marine also has manufacturing operations in Tulsa, Okla., as well as South Carolina, Florida, Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom, Belgium and China. It is a subsidiary of Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick Corp.

Associated Press Writers Murray Evans in Oklahoma City, Okla., and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.

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