Catherwood LibraryILR School

Union-management contentions continue at a Mercury Marine engine plant in Fond-du-Lac, Wisconsin, and a third dimension joins they fray as Stillwater, Oklahoma joins the battle. Union members at Fon-du-Lac resoundingly rejected a contract offer two weeks ago that included a three-year wage freeze and increased health care costs. Management at the plant threatened to move 850 plant jobs from Wisconsin to Oklahoma, which eagerly awaits and needs the jobs. However, an eleventh-hour re-vote has been allowed to take place at the Fond-du-Lac plant, and employees will complete their balloting today. Stillwater, which had felt confident it would receive 850 new jobs, instead of losing its 350 existing ones, is now waiting on tenterhooks to hear the results of the vote. Union members at Fond-du-Lac say they still think the contract is a joke, but at least it would mean they keep their jobs.