Not that I agree with this vote, but to be honest the company would have probably moved eventually anyway. The fact that they are even considering it means they've already thought it out. As a result, the company was trying to do nothing more than save money while working through plans to move over the next few years. At least now the workers get full wages and benefits while the company makes plans for the move. It was the same BS at Lear. They kept forcing job cuts in the weld shop or they would move the work. Well guess what, they moved the work anyway.

Janesvillean - I am sure some Janesville residents will be happy to move to Oklahoma for the jobs you consider insulting. This weekend I read that former union boss Mike Sheridan is thinking of running for governor. Perhaps he will promise to put a hurt on Wisconsin like he promised to put a hurt on Woodmans. He previously succeeded in putting a hurt on GM. Opportunity lost in Wisconsin creats real opportunity elsewhere.

The plant would have moved anyway regardless of the vote.

unions = unemployment

Stillwater has "new" jobs??? It was so eloquently written. Yeah, right.

wait til the OK Times (or whatever its called) headlines come out. "Economy on Rebound - Mercury Engine adds 200 jobs." - Stimulus plan working?!!!! round & round we go.

UPDATE: look at this. Article now claims up to 2,000 new jobs coming from Fon Du Lac!!!!
http://www.koco.com/news/20520032/detail...
Amazing

There is a bigger picture here. This is just the latest chapter in a very bad non-fiction economic nightmare. Oh, wait, the recovery is just around the corner. Obama; G.W. Bush; CNN; FoxNews; MSNBC; CBS, ABC, Associated Press, the Democrats; and, the Republicans say so, right? This economic hell is all in our collective imagination. Everything will be fine once the recovery comes and we all get that $7.50 an hour part-time, no-benefit job that is just over the horizon. Really blog posters, it would not matter if the union voted in Hello Kitty as leader, the prospects are ...the company will eventually move from Wisconsin to Oklahoma to Mexico to China, and then finally to a Viet Nam-esque country.

Stay tuned – Harley is next...the last Wisconsin company standing...think I am lying; want to bet?

Welcome the Second-World America. We are now a poor county with nukes - fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan forever. That's what I served this nation for...to be sold out by all the power players, unions, local government, state government, national government, administrative government, utilities, and business, and any jerks that fall between the aforementioned...over and over and over and over and over and over and over...................

Remember, before you kill the messenger...
at least I use my real name,
Bob Keith

So did I...we probably flipped the same coin.

Ok, the party is over. Mercury Marine just announced they will be leaving Fond du Lac and will run their operations in Stillwater, OK. Fond du Lac will be left with 0-200 jobs after this move is complete. Another blow to Wisconsin.

You guys had a chance to save your jobs. Good bye for now, Oklahoma will welcome the work at cost of what you guys did to reject the concessions.

I have to say there are some excellent posts on this board. No joke either. Well said, everyone. These workers are making a big mistake by voting no.

Fools! Now the Fond du Lac are will become just like Janesville.

I thought that Mercury was asking for a wage reduction of 2-4%.....Hopefully their are plenty of other manufacturing jobs in Fond du lac that the Union will assist in placing these workers in, otherwise I would furious if I was one of their members.......

How many of you have ever looked at it the other way? Keep saying "Yes, yes boss-I'll take whatever you offer me so I can keep my job", and how far could it go before some of you agree that it's just not right?
Sure, the company and the employees should work together when times are tough-then no one looses his entire assets, but which one should give until they're going entirely backwards so that the other feels absolutely no pain?
By the way-do we (does anyone) know what the details of the concessions were? And wouldn't THAT make some difference in posters' attitudes? Funny how often people take the side of business over their fellow citizens on here.

Kudos to the union for deciding what the offer was worth to them and letting the company know. There's a difference between a fair offer and an insulting one, and if you're getting benefits and wages taken away, maybe you are justified in thinking you can match or better that elsewhere. Jobs are important, but they aren't sacred, and taking anything that the company offers just because you have to gives you no more power than the workers in Mexico.

Perhaps the employees know that Mercury Marine plans to move to Mexico regardless of how the vote goes and decided not to give the company a local-busting concession vote for leverage against the employees at other plants?
.
I wonder if managements in Mexican factories threaten their workers with "make concessions or we'll move the plant to the Phillipines" offers?

what are all the union busters and anti-union critics going to say about our school teachers? the unions have been holding up the taxpayers forever and the teachers are not doing that good a job on an average. of course the school board bears some responsibility in this too.

I'm sure they'll still get unemployement- which I don't think is correct. If one of us were to quit our job because we didn't like the pay, we would be rejected in a heartbeat. Maybe it's time we all move south so we can have a job!

I cannot believe that union leadership would encourage it's members to reject a contract that allowed them to keep their jobs with small concessions as opposed to losing them all together. It's completely irresponsible especially in this economy. Even if the jobs went elsewhere after a period of time at least the workers would have had a chance to anticipate and make needed changes while they still had pay coming in. Not only that but I'm sure they weren't considering the effect their decision has on the community as a whole, the ripple effect. Unions have ceased to serve their purpose of protecting the working man's safety and rights and have become corrupt political organizations. Solidarity is no more, we can't afford it! It is too easy for companies to go to contractors or take work out of the country and get the same job done cheaper.

Idiots! Are they just that stupid? From having a job to not having a job. They followed their union stupidity and now they are going to pay for it by hurting their family and killing their community.

idiots

Unions are just like cults; they lie to their followers and tell them that they are not safe without them, they steal money from them and make them believe things that are just so stupid and nonsensical. These followers would -and just have-follow them to their 'deaths'.

This is just ANOTHER example of how the Union's are long past their usefull stage. If their was no union, they couldn't of voted no, if the company wasn't told no to the wage cuts, then the company wouldn't have to move the jobs. I mean think about the bigger picture people.... Job or no job... But with your new leader Obama that doesn't matter, cause he will redistribute my wealth that I worked hard for, and give it to all of you because you don't want to work.. Gosh I love this contry! Land of the Free. Yea your free to not fail in this country anymore.....

Idea! Maybe some of you Janesville GMer's can create a new small buisness in Fon du Lac, catoring to what will be the new unemployed Mercury workers. Your buisness will teach the fon du lac workers how to milk the company and gov. for everything it has, then teach them how to spend every last dime on new cars, harleys, plasma's, and prefabed houses, and then teach them how to not save red cent for a rainy day... I am pretty sure you are all experts at it!

Wow... Lets see wasn't it take a 2% pay cut or 100% pay cut? Hmm looks like they are taking the same path as GM's Union workers here in Janesville.