Harley-Davidson May Leave Milwakee
August 5, 2010
After 107 years in Milwakee, Harley-Davidson may move its manufacturing to another city if it can’t bring labor costs down, news reports say.
Harley-Davidson’s corporate headquearters will remain in Wisconsin – a fact that doesn’t bring much consolation to their employees and Milwakee community, which have seen other corporations leave the state. For example, two years ago the beer giant Miller Brewing Co. moved its headquarters to Chicago in after merging with Molson Coors Brewing Co.
After Schlitz, known as “the beer that made Milwaukee famous” got sold to a Detroit company in the 1980s due to financial and labor problems, Harley-Davidson was left as Milwakee’s only world-famous signature brand bringing tourists and motorcycle lovers to the city.
This may soon change.
The company currently employs 1,630 motorcycle manufacturing employees in Wisconsin.
According to Tom Steepy, a lifelong Harley rider and director of the suburban Milwaukee chapter of the Harley Owners Group (HOG), “If they moved their manufacturing, it would just create a void you can’t fill.”
” They’ve just become the blood of the community,” he said.
News Sources: Washington Times, MSN, AP.
Posted Under: In the News Tags: Harley Davidson, Harley-Davidson motorcycles
