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     Spreadem |
YORK, Pa. - Union workers began a strike Friday at Harley-Davidson Inc.'s largest manufacturing plant, with small groups quietly picketing each entrance of the York facility. In anticipation of the strike, the company shut down production at the plant on Thursday. More than 50 workers gathered as the strike began at midnight, said Tom Boger, a union representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 175. Boger said the company installed cement barricades to block access to all gates, even empty parking lots. The strike came two days after unionized workers rejected the company's contract offer and authorized a walkout. "We are obviously disappointed by the union's decision," Fred Gates, general manager of Harley-Davidson's York operations, said in a statement Thursday. "The proposed contract was structured to help manage future costs that could be detrimental to our business over the long term." But union members said they felt the contract represented a step backward because it contained a two-tier wage system they said would penalize new hires. It also contained a requirement for employees to contribute toward health insurance premiums and pension concessions, they said. Nevin Bechtel, 59, who works in the plant's painting department, said the two-tier wage system would hurt morale. "We'll still keep building first-rate bikes, but when the second-rate people take over, what are we going to build then? Second-rate bikes?" Bechtel said. "There's no sense in doing this if we're not going to stick together," Bechtel said. "If we regress now, we've lost everything we're struggling for, and the company will think they've won." Russell Aldinger, 46, a mechanical assembler who said he had worked at the plant for 10 years, also objected to demands for concessions. "This company is very profitable, and for us to have to take concessions when we were earning the money that we were ... I feel it's ridiculous," Aldinger said. In the statement closing the plant, the company announced the suspension of production of the company's Touring and Softail motorcycles. The company said its proposal included annual wage increases of 4 percent over three years. But part of the increase depended on the union agreeing to contribute toward health insurance coverage. Unionized employees currently pay no premium. It also would have doubled the company's 401(k) retirement plan contributions. Boger said the union was prepared to return to negotiations. "We'll wait for the company to call us," he said. The facility employs more than 3,200 union and nonunion workers. |
