Harley-Davidson has announced a long-planned move of all Softail cruiser production from its historic assembly plant in York, Pennsylvania, to Kansas City in Missouri.
A total of 110 hourly-paid and eight salaried employees at York will be made redundant on 23 June. Harley says affected workers were notified 18 months ago. There will be no net job losses, though, as the company is recruiting the same number of new staff in Kansas City to replace them.
However, it’s safe to assume there will be a significant reduction in payroll costs. Missouri is a “right to work” State without statutory representation for the powerful Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers trade union holding sway in Pennsylvania.
The decision is unassociated with Harley-Davidson’s poor first-quarter financial results. “No other layoffs are planned at this time,” said company spokesperson Katie Whitmore.
The announcement follows the release earlier this week of Harley’s financial results.