Frederica Freyberg:
In Fond du Lac a union “no” vote on contract concessions spells the ends for more than 800 hourly jobs at Mercury Marine there. A potential re-vote looks as though it will not happen. The company told the rank and file that no vote would mean they would lose their jobs.

Frederica Freyberg:
Sunday the workers voted down company proposals that include wage freezes for current
employees and a 30 percent cut for laid-off workers called back to the job.

Dan Longsine:
It's not in our best interest to come back and work for a $13 an hour job and go bankrupt and lose your home anyway. This membership has shown that it will stick together and support each other, and as negotiator, I'm proud of what happened.

Frederica Freyberg:
For its part, the company says it will now move the union jobs out of Wisconsin to its plant in Oklahoma, which is non-union. Mercury Marine says it's an economic necessity because sales have slipped with the recession.

Mark Schwabero:
The sad thing is the industry is significantly down and as a result of that, we just fundamentally have to rationalize our manufacturing.  

Frederica Freyberg:
Gov. Jim Doyle says Wisconsin has offered an aggressive package to keep Mercury Marine. The president of the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation, Brenda Hicks-Sorensen joins us from Fond du Lac with more on this.

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
I know the county board has its own incentive plans. What is the latest on the efforts to keep Mercury Marine?

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
The discussion last night and Wednesday evening with the City Council was regarding the incentive package for the headquarters portion of Mercury Marine, about 800 jobs, and both boards gave us pretty well the go ahead to present that to the company. We will be doing so yet this afternoon.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you think this is going to turn the tide? Will it work? What do you think's going to happen?  

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
Well, I've always believed that the company has wanted to stay here, so I'm extremely hopeful that we've been able to put together a package that will allow them to at least retain their headquarters here.

Frederica Freyberg:
And I know you probably cannot speak to the specifics of this package, but what are some of the things that are included in it?        

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
Sure. Well, I can address what the funds would be used for or somewhat of the package. Of course, it's a very complicated package for the company, but one of the things that we had included in our last package for the headquarters and the manufacturing was some assistance to take a new product to market and that is also included in this package as well, because that does include some of the headquarter components, the research, development and so forth.

Frederica Freyberg:
Have we pretty much then given up on the idea that the manufacturing jobs, the union jobs, will stay in Wisconsin, now focusing on the corporate headquarters? What does the loss of any of these jobs mean to the region?

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
Well, obviously, it's significant. I'm not going to quite give up until midnight on Saturday night when the offer expires. I'm going to hold out a little bit of hope until then. However, it is, as I mentioned, it is very significant. We had completed an economic impact analysis, and the direct and indirect impact to Fond du Lac County alone was 5,900 jobs, 11,000 statewide. And that 11,000 jobs represented over $600 million in annual earnings. So it's not just an impact to Fond du Lac and Fond du Lac County, but statewide as well.

Frederica Freyberg:
Has the state, the county and the city done enough?

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
Yes. I absolutely believe so. We were always told that we really had to be at the table in order to compete with Oklahoma, we knew we had to meet certain needs, and it was our
understanding that if we couldn't address those needs, they wouldn't even necessarily have had the conversations with the union. So when they opened the discussion with the union, we felt I guess a little sigh of relief that we at least kept us at the table and kept the door open for the jobs to stay here in Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. But you yourself and others presumably are still hopeful right up until the deadline of midnight on Saturday. Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, thank you and thank you for your work on behalf of keeping these jobs here in Wisconsin.  

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen:
Well, thank you, and we appreciate all the support.