Hourly production and maintenance workers at Buell Motorcycle Co.'s factory in East Troy will vote June 8 whether to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union.
The union is seeking to represent about 80 employees at Buell, a maker of sport motorcycles. Buell is a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Inc., which purchased a 49 percent stake in the company in 1993 before taking full ownership in 1998.
The move is being made just three months after Harley-Davidson hourly employees at its York, Pa., plant went on strike for three weeks. The union was able to reach a contract settlement in February that required no employee health care premium, but includes increases in the level of out-of-pocket costs that employees could incur for deductibles and co-payments.
Dan Vande Kolk, grand lodge representative for the Machinists union, said Buell workers contacted the union shortly after it negotiated a contract settlement.
"That settlement is much better than what the Buell workers have," Vande Kolk said.
Harley-Davidson's production employees long have had union representation, but two prior attempts to organize workers at the Buell plant earlier this decade failed.
In May 2003, Buell workers voted 54-21 against joining the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers union. A union election also had been scheduled at Buell in September 2002, but an organizing petition was pulled just prior to the scheduled date.
Harley-Davidson spokesman Bob Klein said Buell and its employees have a "great record of accomplishment together."
"We believe the union wouldn't add value to the relationship, but ultimately it's up to the employees to make that decision," he said.