Strike Quiets Harley Plant

Strike quiets Harley plant

HARLEY-DAVIDSON’S SMOOTH sail through the business world temporarily hit rough seas last February when more than 1400 members of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers employed at Harley’s York. Pennsylvania, assembly plant voted in favor of a strike that closed Harley's only final-assembly facility for two weeks before it was settled.

The closure and subsequent renegotiation of the union’s contract came in the wake of the expiration of the union's four-year contract with Harley-Davidson. In anticipation ofthat. management and labor had been working on a new threeyear pact. But the two sides were unable to reach agreement prior to the deadline.

At issue were proposed changes to language in the contract that applied to work rules defining, among other things, when management has to notify an employee that he or she will be required to work overtime. Also at issue were demands for higher wages and a proposed costof-living increase.

The agreement called for workrule language to remain unchanged, and provided a 6-percent wage increase for the first year of the threeyear contract, and 4 percent for each of the subsequent two years. No cost-of-living increase was initiated. The changes brought the average wage at the York plant to about $ 1 3.75 per hour.

The York plant ships about 275 completed motorcycles each day to distributorships all over the world. This was the first strike at the York plant since 1969. —Jon F. Thompson