Mercury Marine CEO Mark Schwabero says the company’s growth since it consolidated operations in Wisconsin has proceeded faster than expected.
The company threatened to leave the state in 2009, but received concessions from its union plus state and local government assistance in the form of tax incentives and loans tied to job growth.
The company has now gone from having 1,400 employees in the state then to more than 3,000.
Schwabero said on Sunday’s “UpFront with Mike Gousha” that the job growth is due to the company consolidating its operations here, the nation’s economic recovery, growth in international markets and success with new products.
He said while there has been a reduction in wages, the average wage is $16.50 per hour and will continue to grow. He said the company increased wages in the last year and its collective bargaining agreement provides for future wage increases. He noted that many employees, not just the union workers, took pay freezes and other reductions.
The government assistance the manufacturer received was not a case of the government picking “winners and losers,” he said, but a realization that the marine industry was changing and the company needed to restructure due to the economic downturn.
“I thing they saw the reality of the situation we were in and were willing to help,” Schwabero said.
Watch the program, produced in conjunction with WisPolitics.com: http://www.wisn.com/politics/upfront
