When the nominations for the 2009 Corporate Hall of Shame
are unveiled, it should come as no surprise to see Mercury Marine and parent
company Brunswick Corporation leading a very crowded pack.
While Mercury Marine, the Fond du Lac, WI-based engine
builder, appeared to be an early favorite to take top honors in the Most
Offensive Outsourcing category, it now appears that executives of Mercury’s parent
company, Brunswick Corp., are also on track to take home the prized Bernard
Madoff Lifetime Achievement Award.
According to ‘The
Twisted Saga of Mercury Marine,’ a study just released by the
non-profit Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF), top executives at Lake
Forest, IL-based Brunswick Corp. orchestrated a competition between Wisconsin
and Oklahoma to see which state could provide the lowest labor costs and the
highest tax incentives.
Meanwhile, Mercury
Marine/Brunswick didn’t pay a dime of income tax in Wisconsin since 2000, according to the IWF
report and records obtained from the Department of Revenue.
Click here
to read the full report.
“The story of Mercury Marine is a sad documentary on how large corporations can reward executives for failure while dismantling the manufacturing structures that generate real value,” said the IWF report, which was particularly critical of Brunswick CEO Dustin McCoy, who collected over $10 million in compensation between 2006 and 2008, while 5,300 workers lost their jobs and the company’s stock fell a whopping 71 percent.
Wed. October 21, 2009
And it looks like Harley is going down the same path with their York operations, threaten to move to a R-T-W state or give us, give us, give us.Wed. October 21, 2009
It is disgusting to read what the Mercury Marine C.E.O. and the board of Directors did to the dedicated hard working employees of their Co. Unfortunately it's no surprise, this happens because our elected representatives continually offer tax incentives and tax give aways in order to attract business from other States. This practice should be prohibited by Federal Law. Why should employees in one State be made to suffer just because another State can offer bigger give aways in order to get their jobs. It's time to stop this practice. James E. Brown Retired General Vice President Midwest TerritoryWed. October 21, 2009
It should be no suprise to any workers that Wisconsin leads the list of all states for not taxing corporations. Our elected representatives, Republicans led the way when they were in power but Democrats are no better, to exempt so much for corporations that most part we are a tax free state. This is a reason the tax burden has been transfered to the property owner. Fond du Lac is in one of the more conservative sections of our state and continues to elect neo-con's. It all ties together.