HD to leave Milwaukee
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,535
Likes: 15
From: Salem, Va.
Truth be known, the decision has been made. They are probally leaving. Cant really blame them. Union thugs probally think HD is bluffing. Employees are the ones that going to take the hit.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 92
Likes: 0
From: Central Florida
$50.00 an hour for a fork lift driver? The "burdened overhead costs" ( hourly wage, taxes, insurance, benefits, utilities, retirement plan contributions, etc.) probably increase that $50.00 to around $100 per hour.
Add to that the federal corporate tax rate of 35%, and the cost of doing business is astronomical.
The labor unions have contributed to the demise of Detroit, and they still don't get it.
Time for some consessions if they want to keep those union jobs!
Add to that the federal corporate tax rate of 35%, and the cost of doing business is astronomical.
The labor unions have contributed to the demise of Detroit, and they still don't get it.
Time for some consessions if they want to keep those union jobs!
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,184
Likes: 0
From: The Peoples Republic of Massachusstts
They threatened to close down York a year or so ago.. The unions and the state capitulated and they stayed in York. IF HD did not do this type of stuff and get relief from the state and the union I would figure that it was a miss managed company!!!
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio, Tx
Here’s a thought for you. We bough HD for the same reasons. The name and heritage and, honestly folks, an image. If we wanted to buy the best bike for our money it would be Asian and if we wanted the best manufactured bike on the road it would be German. So, since most of the parts on an HD are made overseas and only the engines are assembled in Milwaukie, does it really matter where they assemble the engines? Texas? The South?
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 5,413
Likes: 17
From: eastern oklahoma
harley has been making great bikes for a very long time. i saw the unions break the steel mill in pueblo colorado, and it's been happening all over the country for the past twenty years or so. there's little we can do other than be concerned by standers. it seems like for the past six years or so, all we've gotten is tidbits of engineering evolution out of the new harleys. like the 2010 to 2011 offerings. different paint and a few little do-dads. no overhead cams, and if you want it to run strong you gotta throw a lot of money at them. i just hope they don't go back into the situation they were in when AMF ran it, although that one wouldn't surprise me with the state of the economy. ya gotta figure, when some guys are struggling to make house payments, and feeding their family, they sure aren't gonna be shopping for a 20 thousand dollar motorcycle.
4th Gear
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
First off let me just say I am not a union member, have never been a union member and will probably never be a union member. I am a machinist at an independent job shop and do okay for myself.
That said...
I don't think it was a fluke that America's greatest prosperity of the 1950-1960's also just happened to be at a time when Union membership was highest.
I also don't believe I have ever met the $50/hr union worker around here and we have the paper mills here and their costs are higher than the auto industry when it comes to human resources.
I also don't believe these Unions signed these contracts themselves, someone signing the checks had to agree to them in the first place.
I am not defending Unions, but they do have a place, I can't believe how many blue collar folks are so intent on being against their own socio-economic interests, it fascinates me.
That said...
I don't think it was a fluke that America's greatest prosperity of the 1950-1960's also just happened to be at a time when Union membership was highest.
I also don't believe I have ever met the $50/hr union worker around here and we have the paper mills here and their costs are higher than the auto industry when it comes to human resources.
I also don't believe these Unions signed these contracts themselves, someone signing the checks had to agree to them in the first place.
I am not defending Unions, but they do have a place, I can't believe how many blue collar folks are so intent on being against their own socio-economic interests, it fascinates me.
Club Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,582
Likes: 72
From: North East
I'm a strong believer that Harley corporate and possibly Harley design engineering will stay in Milwaukee while Harley manufacturing will stay somewhere in the lower 48. I believe most Harley riders have a stronger connection to the "made in American" part of Harley than "made in Milwaukee."
I'm more concerned over the overall health of Harley and the total motorcycle industry. The market was shrinking before the economic downturn made a significant negative contribution to the size of the overall motorcycle market.
It's easy to critisize many aspects of the Harley world including what some interpret as a lack of loyalty to Milwaukee and increasing numbers of outsourced components from across the pond. For just a minute imagine a world without Harley Davidson. The dissappearance of the Harley Davidson we know today would so radically change the landscape of the global motorcycle industry it might require several decades to recover. Who's going to fill that void?
Just my .02
I'm more concerned over the overall health of Harley and the total motorcycle industry. The market was shrinking before the economic downturn made a significant negative contribution to the size of the overall motorcycle market.
It's easy to critisize many aspects of the Harley world including what some interpret as a lack of loyalty to Milwaukee and increasing numbers of outsourced components from across the pond. For just a minute imagine a world without Harley Davidson. The dissappearance of the Harley Davidson we know today would so radically change the landscape of the global motorcycle industry it might require several decades to recover. Who's going to fill that void?
Just my .02
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
From: Lusby Md
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Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,441
Likes: 48
From: Eastern N.C.
I think unions were a good thing in the begining. Child labor, bad working conditions,ect. But somewhere along the way greed for itself and itself alone has taken over. Man that makes 15 to 20.00 an hr. has a very hard time buying products from people making 50. and above an hr. 20,000 and 30,000 I think is just to much for 2 wheels. I ride an 07 sg and love it, but I didn't buy it new. All this jmo.
Kroozeabout.
Kroozeabout.
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio, Tx
Victory Motorcycles?