Did Mercury Marine trio save jobs or betray union?
Fond du Lac — To some they are heroes, three union workers at Mercury Marine Inc. whose desperate petition drive gave their colleagues one last chance to accept contract concessions and save their jobs. To others, they represent a crack in the shell of organized labor. However the three are viewed, it is clear that the efforts of Rick Schmidt, Fred Toth Jr. and Felipe Rodriguez led to the referendum Thursday and Friday in which Mercury Marine employees accepted a wage freeze and other concessions – and preserved the status of the outboard engine-maker as one of the biggest employers in the Fox Valley. “When the time comes to fight for your job and your family, that’s what you are going to do,” said Toth, 46. The vote on the concessions package was the third in less than two weeks, and it came only after the trio organized an 11th-hour petition drive that forced their union to reconsider the company’s offer. In the first vote, on Aug. 23, workers soundly defeated the proposal, which inc
