Strike threat leaves Harley plant in dust
Production is halted as workers at York, Pa. plant overwhelmingly reject proposed contract offering lower wages and benefits for new workers.
February 1 2007: 1:39 PM EST

CHICAGO (Reuters) -- Harley-Davidson Motor Co. said Thursday that it halted production at its largest assembly plant after workers there rejected a proposed three-year contract and authorized a strike that could begin early Friday.

The workers at the motorcycle maker's York, Pennsylvania, plant voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to reject a proposed new contract that called for lower wages and benefits for new workers and forced all union-represented workers to pay more for health insurance.
The 2,798 York workers, who are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 175, also voted to authorize a strike beginning a minute after midnight, when the current contract expires.

In a statement released Thursday that acknowledged the vote, Harley said it was disappointed by the potential disruption, which one analyst said could cost the company $11 million in lost sales and shave a penny off earnings per share for each day it lasts.

In 2006, Harley earned $3.93 a share on sales of $5.80 billion.

Harley said the contract concessions were necessary to help the company, which is currently enjoying growing sales and profit, avoid finding itself "in the same position that the Detroit auto industry is in now" 10 years down the road.

Harley said it was immediately suspending production of the Touring and Softail motorcycles the York plant produces.
No strike since '91

The stakes in a prolonged walkout are potentially high. In a note to investors, Tim Conder, an analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons, pointed out that the two bikes that come out of York are Harley's highest-margin products and account for about 60 percent of all the units it makes.

Michael Savner, an analyst at Bank of America Equity Research, estimated a strike would cost the company roughly $11 million in sales, and about a penny per share of profit for every day the production shutdown lasts.

But Conder said he was optimistic that the issues would be "quickly resolved," and a strike averted, citing Harley's "long history of extremely good company/labor relations."

Harley, which faces similar contract expirations in Kansas City later this summer and in Milwaukee early next year, hasn't experienced a work disruption since 1991.

At that time the York workers, who make between 700 and 800 bikes a day, staged a walkout that was quickly resolved.
Craig R. Kennison, an analyst at R.W. Baird, said he thought any strike this time would be similarly "short-lived." Harley had planned for a short strike when it issued its first-quarter shipment guidance last month and that shipments of the two bikes the plant makes during the fourth quarter left dealers with "ample supply to satisfy demand during the off-season," he said.

"While a prolonged strike could do some harm to the brand," Kennison wrote in a note to investors, "a short disruption would do little damage."

Shares of Harley (up $0.71 to $68.98, Charts) rose 1 percent in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Harley's stock has lagged competitors in the last three months. It has risen 0.9 percent, compared to gains around 11 percent for Ducati (Charts), Honda (Charts) and Polaris (Charts).

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/01/news...rss_topstories

 

"let’s look at the wages of just one salaried Harley employee. CEO Jim Ziemer. As far as I can tell, he has “earned” roughly $15 million for his first years work"



Found this little tid-bit, but no, let's take from the working man and women.

 

If I were upset by the CEO's salary, THAT'S the job I would be after!!!

 

So, speaking as someone who has an '07 RoadKing on order, I guess I'll be looking at a day-for-day slip in delivery now.

Dammit.[:@]

Would be nice to not have to contribute any to my company-provided health care premiums and pay minimal out-of-pocket expenses. Welcome to the real world.[:'(]

 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 2,700 Machinists union members at Harley-Davidson in York, PA, were forced out of their workplace today after voting to reject a contract that union leaders called a betrayal to workers at the iconic company. "Harley-Davidson has no business behaving like they're on the brink of bankruptcy," said Tom Buffenbarger, international president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). "When Harley was flat on its back in the 1980's, it was union members who refused to let it die. Harley went on to become an international success story but they've obviously forgotten how they got this far." "They don't respect workers as much as their stock options," declared District 98 Directing Business Representative Tom Boger about company leaders who reported record revenue of more than $1.6 billion for the third quarter of last year. Harley proposed pay increases that would go into effect in 2008 and 2009, but only if workers agreed to pay more for health care costs. "These workers build pride into every motorcycle Harley sells and they deserve a fair contract that reflects the success they helped create," said Buffenbarger. "Instead, this company's management is risking a successful 26- year partnership for a few cents more in profits. It's incredibly stupid and shortsighted." The contract with Harley-Davidson expires on February 2 at 12:01 am. Strike preparations are underway.
/\........I'm with these guys. All they are asking for is to not go backward. keep current benefit levels, and have a cost of living adjustment. You can bet every one of them corporate executive types is NOT going backward in any way, shape or form! As a matter of fact, I'll bet they're all patting themselves on the back with nice six and seven figure bonus checks for a job well done.

 

So does all this make my Softail worth more now?

[sm=groupwave.gif][sm=happy046.gif][sm=happy046.gif][sm=happybounce.gif][sm=exactly.gif][sm=icon_stickpoke.gif][sm=icon_stickpoke.gif]

 

Sounds to me like all you union 'haters' are just jealous because the jobs you have don't have equal benefits....Maybe you should be looking for a union job. I once worked for a union company that gave the company back HALF of their wages when the company fell on hard times....just to keep the plant open. Twenty years later, they were just getting back to the salaries they used to make. Then the GREED set in. The company put in some new equipment that they expected to increase production 30%...well we pushed hard and increased production by over 50% and took care of a four month backlog in on time delivery. They claimed that the company was now in a great position to pick and choose jobs because they could guarantee ontime delivery to their customers....How did they reward us come contract time??? They raised insurance rates that offset our piddly raise so I made about $.03 CENTS more per hour.

IT AINT ALWAYS THE UNION FU<KING OVER THE COMPANY GUYS!

 

Its really something to see how everyone reacts when all these two groups are doing is posturing..the contract runs out, what, tomorrow night at midnight? I could be wrong, but I believe they will come to an agreement before the bell tolls 12 times tomorrow night. If they do not and a strike comes about then be upset, but its not just labor at fault. They make $20 per hour. What does the CEO and his underlings make per hour? There are two sides to every issue. And anyone who thinks mexicans or Chinese can do as good a job building YOUR bike just look at the junk cars being built in China now, and they have better technology than we do. I sure do not want to ride a bike built by a chinese. If I did I would buy one of their pieces of junk and then buy a huge insurance policy on myself and my loved ones who ride with me.

 

everyone blames AMF but really people should than them. If it wasn't for AMF stepping up to the plate , exremely good chance Harley wouldn't be here today...funny how people forget H.D was going bankrupt

 

Greed ? The main sticking point is health care , can you blame someone for wanting to take care of there family ? Comments like that are whats wrong with this country .