Mercury Marine employees vote again today; may be too late

Talk about it

Union employees at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac will keep voting today, even though the company says it will not recognize their second vote on contract concessions.

Company spokesman Steve Fleming said the union had all of last week to re-consider its earlier rejection of the concessions and the union should not have waited until two hours before its deadline to start the vote.

But it took all week for the national union’s leadership in Chicago to agree to a second vote, without its normal requirement for major changes in the company’s proposal.

Employees had petitioned for the re-vote. Mercury said the union had until midnight Saturday to accept the concessions, or else the plant would start a three-year move to a non-union facility in Stillwater, Okla.

Early Sunday, company president Mark Schwabero thanked the community for its support, and plans for the move would begin as soon as possible.

Some Fond du Lac area leaders held out hope that it’s not over yet and County Executive Alan Buechel said he would ask the County Board to approve a 0.5 percent sales tax to give Mercury incentives for staying.

Even if the plant and its 850 workers leave, leaders hope to keep Mercury’s corporate headquarters in Fond du Lac.

Those headquarters employ another 900 people.

Tags: mercury marine, wisconsin, contract