Union workers in Fond du Lac started voting today on contract concessions designed to prevent Mercury Marine’s factory from moving to Oklahoma. The voting began this morning at a union hall – and officials say several hundred of the 850 members had already cast their ballots by mid-day. The voting will continue through six tonight, and resume tomorrow until six p-m. Workers are deciding whether to freeze their wages, accept lower health premiums, and let new employees and those returning from layoffs get 30-percent less pay. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers rejected the concessions on August 23rd – and an August 28th deadline came-and-went without finalizing a second vote. But a third vote was allowed after the company clarified some of the terms of the revised contract. If the union votes no this time, up to 850 production jobs could move to a non-union plant in Stillwater Oklahoma. If they vote yes, Governor Jim Dole said the Fond du Lac plant could eventually get up to 600 new jobs thanks to state incentives.
