Mercury Marine Union Approves Deal To Keep Jobs In Wisconsin

Associated Press

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) -- The union at Mercury Marine says its workers have approved a contentious package of wage and benefit concessions the boat-engine maker says it needs to keep 850 jobs from moving to Oklahoma.

Russ Krings of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers did not disclose the exact vote following two days of balloting that ended Friday. The company says it accepts the results.

The deal freezes wages for seven years, boosts health care costs, changes work rules and cuts pay 30 percent for new hires and laid-off union members called back.

Last month, the union said workers rejected the same changes Mercury Marine said it needed to keep manufacturing jobs in Fond du Lac from being moved to a nonunion plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma.