Harley puts kickstand back down in York
Posted: 12/3/2009

Harley-Davidson Inc. nixed any hopes of moving some of its operations to Shelbyville Thursday, a day after workers at the motorcycle maker's York, Pa., plant agreed to a new seven-year contract.
The company said it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to reshape the York plant, its largest motorcycle assembly facility. That restructuring includes closing one of the two factories there and laying off nearly half the current unionized work force of about 1,950.
"A restructured York operation will enable the plant to be competitive and sustainable for the future, and the new labor agreement is critical to making that happen," Harley CEO Keith Wandell said in a statement.
Thursday's decision came a day after workers at the York plant approved a contract that included wage freezes, increased employee health insurance contributions and fewer vacation days.
Libby Adams, executive director of the Shelby County Industrial Foundation, was saddened by the news but remained positive.
"We are very proud of our community and how (it) embraced this opportunity," she said. "We feel confident that Harley-Davidson would have been a good fit for our community and would have prospered here. However, we are blessed to already have a strong and diverse industrial base in Shelby County. We will work to help them grow and prosper here, while at the same time, look for other opportunities as good as this would have been."
She said the publicity Shelby County received from Harley-Davidson's interest in the area is priceless.
"You couldn't buy the notoriety we got from this. It's phenomenal."