From The Journal Record:
Although some observers hold doubts, Stillwater’s future job boost from a Mercury Marine union standoff could roll into a much bigger prize: the 1,000-employee corporate headquarters.
After several months of discussion, warnings and political posturing under a national recession that eliminated more than 50 percent of Mercury Marine sales, union workers at the company’s Fond du Lac, Wis., headquarters failed to meet the company’s Saturday deadline for adopting a new contract promising reduced operating expenses.
Declaring the talks over, on Sunday morning the Brunswick subsidiary reaffirmed its intent to …

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
In the end, it came down to timing and a deadline.
And time was not on the side of the union of Mercury Marine Inc. after the company rejected the union’s attempt at a second vote on a proposed labor contract aimed at saving hundreds of jobs.
The vote Saturday night came too late, and further delays wouldn’t be fair to an Oklahoma community that’s been waiting for the outboard-engine maker to move additional work there, Mercury executives said Sunday.
Read the rest.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
More than 200 union members at Mercury Marine Inc. have signed petitions calling for a second vote on a labor contract that was rejected Sunday by what union leaders said was a wide margin.
Unless the union members take a second vote and approve the proposed concessions, Mercury Marine says it will move up to 850 manufacturing jobs to its nonunion plant in Stillwater, Okla. Also at risk is the company’s headquarters, which employs about 1,000 people.
“We are fighting right to the end,” said Fred Toth Jr., …

From The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
The fate of hundreds of Mercury Marine Inc. manufacturing jobs will be decided in a union vote Sunday, and the outcome also may determine whether the 70-year-old company keeps its world headquarters in Fond du Lac. Mercury, one of the Fox Valley’s largest employers, said Thursday that it will probably move its outboard engine manufacturing to Stillwater, Okla., unless its Fond du Lac union votes to accept contract concessions. Those concessions include a seven-year wage freeze and about 30% lower pay for new hires and employees called …

From The Associated Press:
An Oklahoma judge ruled Thursday that Chesapeake Energy Corp. won’t have to open its books to a shareholders’ group, a victory for the company in its defense of a $75 million bonus awarded to CEO Aubrey McClendon last December.
Oklahoma County District Judge Daniel Owens denied the books-and-records request by the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System. The group wanted to examine Chesapeake’s books to try to determine why the independent natural gas producer’s board of directors awarded the bonus after a year in which Chesapeake’s stock price …