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Font ResizePennsylvania's new budget contains up to $20 million to help the motorcycle maker revamp or rebuild its Springettsbury Township manufacturing complex, but the final amount depends on job-creation and -retention numbers to be provided by the company.
Months ago Harley announced the local plant is inefficient, and it was trying to decide if it can fix the problems or if it should just pull up stakes and move to another state.
While Yorkers digested that news (and the union prepared for contract negotiations) the company even tossed out a few possible destinations -- Indiana, Kentucky, or Tennessee.
Employees earlier this month held a meeting during which the company announced a joint team of union leadership and company officials had agreed on a "viable restructuring plan."
Of course, rank-and-file union members' support will be crucial, it added.
The company and union are being tightlipped about this plan, so we don't know the details. But obviously, if the company remains in York County, there will be concessions.
So we're not concerned just with whether a major local employer stays, but what it will look like if it does.
The 2,000 positions that remain at the Springettsbury plant after 500 layoffs over 21/2 years are good jobs that support local families and businesses. Hopefully, a continued Harley presence won't be a shell of its former self.
Here's where the governor's aid package might help.
The state's $15 million-to-$20 million assistance plan sounds like it ought to be a drop in the bucket for Harley, but then again this is a company that recently posted an 84.1 percent drop in third-quarter net income -- from $166.5 million in the third quarter last year, to $26.5 million this year.
If Rendell's offer convinces Harley brass not to cut any more jobs at the local plant -- and maybe even bring some of the lost ones back -- it's worth the money.
