Just be happy that you have a job period. Quit your pissing and moaning and get back to work. It has been 8 months since I was laid off. The cut they are asking you to take can't be worse than sitting at home on unemployment. You union whiners make me sick.

Genius move. A wage cut that could be 10-20% less (specifics were not given) or a job cut of 100%. In today's economy take the concessions to ensure that you still have a job. Yet another boneheaded UNION move!

miltonalum; If you were good at what you did no company would have laid you off and not called you back. --- your making the point of the union bashers here, They CAN'T hire you back no matter how good you are. I'm sure there have been literally hundreds of good workers that were laid off from GM in jvl over the years that were better workers than those that had been there for 20,25 or 30+ years. Its called seniority. I understand construction is different but in manufacturing, this is the way it works. This is also a BIG part of the problem - they get complacent, particulariliy GMers. I cant tell you how many times I heard this when GM went to 1 line: I'm an 86er, I should be fine the "new hires" will go before me. This is just wrong. The mentality that a Co. "owes" me because Ive been here x years is crap.

miltonalum; nice try but did you read what I wrote - RESIDENTIAL Contractors. All you listed are Commercial contractors. My FACTS are right.

Quote "How many union residential contractors are in the Janesville area? No Plubmers, No Heating Contractors, No Roofers, No Carpet Installers, No General Contractors, No Masons, No Cement Finishers, No Painters - shall I continue? They CAN'T SURVIVE in this market"
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JPCullen, Debco, Scherer, Magill, Findorff, DeGarmo, Butters Fetting, Cornerstone, Middleton Concrete.
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Just a few of the "union" contractors that dont exist in this area, get your facts straight.
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-Quote- "One in the 80's, And one in the 90's. And you know what? Do you think they ever did anything for me? "
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Unions have their slouches just like everywhere else, if you arent a hard worker and good at what your doing you get that rep and companies dont want you, If you didnt make it in a union dont blame the union, look in the mirror. too many people join a union and expect that they should have a job and the "union" should get one for them. You still have to work, If you were good at what you did no company would have laid you off and not called you back.

Wisconsin needs to become a "Right-to-Work" state.

If there are many that are not happy with the proposed changes they should still have voted yes and then taken their time looking for what they wanted at another business. Why take others down with them in a lost cause? It effects the whole community not just them.

woodsman - maybe 40-50 years ago you were correct. today your just plain wrong or at the very least a hypocrite. Yes, unions had their place but the fact is they hurt more than help today. They were crated before OSHA, before 401k, ROTH IRA, etc ... they're "work" is done & they are ineffective today.

Hypocrite: typical Pro union, Buy American , Chest Thumper. Who do you call when you need work done at your home? NOT a union contractor. When you are the employee its gimmee, gimmee but when YOU are writing the check, its low bid, low bid, low bid. How many union residential contractors are in the Janesville area? No Plubmers, No Heating Contractors, No Roofers, No Carpet Installers, No General Contractors, No Masons, No Cement Finishers, No Painters - shall I continue? They CAN'T SURVIVE in this market, yet Janesville is a "union town" - yeah right! The ONLY Residential Contractors in the area are the electricians. Why? I believe its because of the like clock work shut downs at GM twice a year for years & it just made sense for them to be union as they could count on the shutdown to make 10's of 1,000's of dollars.

These people are fools voting down this deal, they might as well say goodbye to there jobs, someone in oklahoma will be doing it soon. Wake up people quit being some hard headed the union only cares about the union not the people in it.

Milton, the problem is everything went from one extreme to the other, no happy medium.

All of you union haters can thank the unions for what your non-union jobs are paying, because without unions you too would be making minimum wage. I will agree that unions sometimes get a bit greedy, however, they set the bar for what non union jobs pay too, beleive it or not they helped every single one of you union haters.
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That said, the workers do need to agree to some concessions, 7 years of a pay freeze is too long, but 3 or 4 max should do the trick.

This time it's competition with an Oklahoma plant, next time it will be competition with Mexico. So even if the workers cave in this time, who says these jobs will be here for the long run? American manufacturing employees cannot compete with the slave wages "American" companies can easily pay in the third world thanks to NAFTA. Unless and until this issue is addressed, these jobs are going to continue to pay less and less and eventually will not pay enough to pay for the gas and car maintenance to get to work every day.

woodsman-yes we are thankfull for what unions have done to get better working conditions and pay, but this isn't the 1920's and 1930's. The fallacy is that unions will always want more and more regardless. Greed is greed whether you're a CEO or a union laborer. I'm sick of both.

Mayhem your an idiot! Either that or you know "NOTHING" about UNION'S. So your saying all the bloodshed years ago was in vain? NO,if it weren't for union's YOUR pay wouldn't be what it is today. I think you better study history some,before you bash another union,O.K. buckoo!

oldtimer probably thinks rick wagoner of GM making $10,000 an hour is still justified.

I hope they can get this resolved. I would suggest a uniform cut across the board. 7 years of a salary freeze is long. Maybe 2 or three years. They need to keep the talks going.

Yet another great union!!....UNIONS SUCK !! They did a whole lot for GM and every other union place that has closed up. A cut in pay is better than no job at all!!

Yeah, that would be in a perfect world. And Lord knows, this ain't.

busch, not how it works in reality.

The vote affects more than just union and management. There are hundreds of salaried (non-management) workers affected by the decisions of the union employees. Granted, they were asked to agree to some big changes (especially in the case of lay-offs). However, I don't think this is the economy to try to call the company's bluff. Mercury's management is stuck in the middle--don't want to move the company but they also know what it will take to keep them in Fond du Lac. Brunswick, the parent, gets the final decision. They have no ties to the local economy so they only need to consider the bottom line. It would be in the union's best interest to work with Mercury and keep their jobs.

busch, apparently you never owned a business? employees just clock in, do their job and clock out, mangement has to deal with all kinds of problems, regulations etc you have no idea.

I hope that if Management is expecting the workers to take cuts...that they are too! Cuts should be taken across the board.