pratikkk

MP Guru
Employee Retention of Mercury Marine : Mercury Marine, founded in 1939, is a division of Brunswick of Lake Forest, Illinois, in the United States. Mercury provides engines for private, commercial and government sales. Mercury even has its own line of racing engines with less fuel efficiency and more focus at power and speed. The company's primary business is outboard motors. Mercury Outboards, 30 Hp and less, are made by Tohatsu in Japan[1]. Mercury also manufactures some larger size engines in China. Mercury also manufactures engines over 75 hp in their Fond du Lac hub.

Fond du Lac — The future appears grim for hundreds of Mercury Marine Inc. employees as they stand to lose good-paying jobs that have supported families in this blue- collar city for decades.

Sunday, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge 1947 voted by what it called a wide margin to reject contract concessions that could have saved more than 800 manufacturing jobs and may have brought more employment to Fond du Lac.

As a result of the vote, Mercury says it will move much of its manufacturing over the next 36 months to Stillwater, Okla., where it has operated a plant for 30 years.

The fate of the outboard-engine maker's world headquarters is in question, too, as Mercury has said it could move those jobs out of Fond du Lac if there's not much of a factory here in the future.

It will be a separate decision, company President Mark Schwabero said Sunday after the union voted to reject concessions.

"There are naturally some jobs in our headquarters that will move with the manufacturing. But other jobs could stay," Schwabero said, adding that functions such as sales, credit and marketing might remain here.

Gov. Jim Doyle called on union members and Mercury Marine management to resolve their differences so that the company could stay in Wisconsin.

"I still believe that this opportunity exists, and as long as it does, I will fight for it," Doyle said in a news release. "But, I cannot do it alone."

The union says it's open to further talks, although it won't call for a second vote on the concessions rejected Sunday.

Mercury has 1,900 employees here, including the company headquarters.

Three years from now, however, the manufacturing presence is likely to be scaled back. There might be "zero to 200" jobs left at the plant, Schwabero said, compared with nearly 850 now and more than 1,500 a few years ago.

The company has said its sprawling industrial complex in Fond du Lac isn't an economical place to build engines, and it could start moving work to its Stillwater plant yet this year. The company has been a presence in Fond du Lac for nearly 70 years.

The company says it will honor its labor contract, which expires in 2012, while it steps up efforts to move manufacturing to the non-union Stillwater facility.

Oklahoma officials have offered to cover Mercury's moving expenses in return for the jobs and tax dollars brought to their state.

The company says it expects to finalize details of state and local support over the next few days, and it anticipates the move to take 24 to 36 months.

"This has been a very difficult and stressful process for all involved," Schwabero said, adding that the company will work with its Fond du Lac staff to develop a transition plan.

The headquarters could remain here, move to Stillwater or to Illinois, where Mercury's owner, Brunswick Corp., has its headquarters.

"Our focus so far has been on the manufacturing," Schwabero said.

Mercury says the union rejected its best and final contract proposal, and the company is not asking for further negotiations.

The company's salaried employees have accepted wage freezes and furloughs, Schwabero said, and now the company knows where the union stands on concessions.

Union leaders say they were prepared to accept contract changes in order to save jobs. But they wouldn't give the company everything it wanted, and the union sought written guarantees that work would remain in Fond du Lac.

"We would have been willing to accept pay cuts until the company got back on its feet. But they weren't interested in any of our ideas," said Dan Longsine, chief negotiator for Lodge 1947.

Union officials said they were convinced that Mercury would move work to Stillwater and other less expensive manufacturing locations regardless of whether the concessions were approved.

"There's no great outcome here," Longsine said. "Our hearts sank" when the company made its pitch for 170 contract changes, including a 30% pay cut for new hires and employees called back to work from layoff.

Mercury's $175 million annual local payroll, including benefits, has been called an economic engine for the entire Fox Valley.

Mercury said change was needed to reduce its operating costs, over the long term, while keeping the pay intact for employees currently on the job.

"But I don't believe that someone who works 30 years for a company should return from a layoff as a second-class employee. They would never get back to what they once earned," Longsine said.

Mercury Marine plant workers in Fond du Lac earn more than $20 an hour depending on job classification and seniority.

Under the union's rules, laid-off employees were not allowed to vote on the concessions - even though they would be among the most affected if called back to work.

"Remember us," laid-off workers shouted at other union members preparing to vote Sunday at Fond du Lac High School.

Times are tough, but many employees said they felt as if Mercury had pitted them against people in the community who urged them to vote for the concessions in order to keep the company in Fond du Lac.

Union officials said no one spoke in favor of the concessions during the membership meeting before the vote, but plenty of members were upset about the proposed changes.

Employees earning $11 to $13 per hour - what new hires or those called back for layoffs would have made if the concessions had been approved - aren't going to be able to buy homes and new cars and support local businesses, according to union members.

"It's a slap in the face for someone who has worked for this company nearly 20 years" and has a family to support, said employee Greg Rose, who currently is laid off.

Union leaders say they don't know whether Mercury will cut hundreds of jobs here, as it has said, but they have a contract that doesn't expire until 2012.
 
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