Harley plant under threat

Harley-Davidson seek more favourable contract with its union workers to ensure it could afford to keep the doors of its manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin.

WISCONSIN // While announcing improved second-quarter results last week Harley-Davidson said it was seeking a more favourable contract with its union workers to ensure it could afford to keep the doors of its manufacturing facilities in the state open. "The company seeks to close large cost gaps in its Milwaukee-area and Tomahawk production operations, and improve flexibility to meet seasonal and other customer-driven production needs," The New York Times reported from a Harley-Davidson statement. If Harley-Davidson is unable to achieve the objectives through agreement with the unions by mid-September 2010, the company has said it will move its Wisconsin production operations to another location in the United States. The company said last April that $54 million (Dh198 million) in manufacturing costs must be cut from its Wisconsin plants. Harley-Davidson also operates a large manufacturing plant in York, Pennsylvania. The company's corporate headquarters, research and development operations and the Harley-Davidson Museum are in the Milwaukee area. The statement said those operations would not be affected by a decision to move production.