New Vote At Mercury Marine Suggests Compromises, Doyle Assist
That there will be a third contract vote at Mercury Marine suggests management has made some contract changes that will help union members swallow hard and approve a contract that basically cuts their standard of living for a long time.
But preserves much of the payroll, opens the door to production moving to Fond du Lac from Oklahoma, and keeps local suppliers selling parts and services.
All in all, even if the contract is approved, the community has been bruised.
Note to Gov. Doyle haters: it appears as if Doyle played a positive role in getting the two sides together.
How does that fit with your "Doyle-isevil" template?
And if the vote is "no," those bruises will be much deeper.
6 comments:
Here is Doyle's positive role: He will help get legislation passed that allows the county to impose a sales tax in order to offset the cost of the package the county offered to Merc.
Wow - what a great guy.
First off not sure why you would assume that management made any changes, they would have been fools to do so under the circumstances.
If anything they should have asked for more concessions from the Union.
And we are suppose to praise Jim Doyle for his "solution" of raising taxes?
What a joke.
Correction - I see the Union officials are claiming a supplement was added to the contract proposal by Merc to clarify some issue.
Whether those clarifications made the offer better, worse, or a wash is up for speculation.
And I guess the supplement met the Union's non-existent bylaw of needing significant changes to allow for a re-vote.
To Anon Jim;
In the real world - - and I know this by a) having been in a union, b) having been in management, and c) having covered labor for the Journal as a beat in the 80's - - I can say it is not unusual for their to be gestures and facing in negotiations so one side does not kill the other. Its not necessary, or smart business.
If the vote is a "yes," management wins the major concessions. The Union wins with the supplemental language, and can say it helped clarify that the company preferred all along to keep its production and HQ where it was, so as not to incur the huge expense of moving.
The community wins with job retention - - yes with a smaller payroll for existing workers - - but perhaps with an expanded workforce if jobs move north from Oklahoma.
If everyone wins something, that is a successful negotiation.
To Anon Jim;
Correcting myself here:
"there," not their in graph one. And the word "face-saving" didn't make it intact.
I'm glad you think everyone wins. too bad the people in Stillwater Ok lose everything. too bad their fate is in the hands of all these other game players.
Post a Comment