Even if Harley-Davidson decides to keep its local vehicle assembly operations in York County, the company would likely cut hundreds of workers in addition to cuts already made this year.

Noncore production, including some sub-assembly, chrome-plating and stamping of parts, would be outsourced to Harley suppliers under a plan the company told workers about Wednesday.

The moves would reduce the number of workers at the York operations regardless of whether the company decides to keep any of its operations in York County.

Harley-Davidson spokeswoman Pat Sweeney said Wednesday the company has settled on a restructuring plan that would include vehicle assembly, metal fabrication and painting of Harley motorcycles in York. But the company found that a plan to also keep non-core production as part of the Springettsbury Township plants lacked the needed savings.

All that is contingent on Harley deciding to keep operations in York County at all. Sweeney said the company is still on schedule to make a decision to stay or go some time in December. The preferred option remains staying in York, she said.

Sweeney did not say exactly how many positions could be cut by outsourcing non-core operations.

But Tom Santone, directing business representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 98, said the decision would displace workers numbering into the hundreds.

Santone said, when contacted early Wednesday afternoon, that

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he did not have an exact number. Efforts to reach him later in the day were unsuccessful.

IAM Local 175 represents employees at the facilities in York County.

A study has been under way since May to examine whether Harley should move the operations elsewhere to save costs. Such a move would mean about 2,000 manufacturing employees would lose their jobs here.

The union is also negotiating a new contract ahead of a scheduled Dec. 2 contract vote. The contract, which is being negotiated early, is also a step toward helping Harley stay in York County.

Santone said the union had hoped to save non-core production work and keep it local. He said the union worked for months to try to make it happen.

In addition to examining the best way to restructure York, Harley is also examining alternative locations in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Shelbyville, Ind. and Shelbyville, Ky. Sweeney said Wednesday that outsourcing of non-core operations would be occurring even if the company decides to move core operations to any of those sites.

Bob Jensenius, executive vice president of the York County Chamber of Commerce, said the outsourcing plan is not surprising.

He said when companies talk about efficiency, it often indicates a company plans to cut its business down into its core components.

"That is more common these days," Jensenius said.

Boiling business down has already been evident this year in several Harley moves, most notably with a decision to jettison the Buell and MV Agusta brands from the company to concentrate on the Harley-Davidson brand.

The job cuts would come as a blow to the local economy, but the impact could depend on which suppliers Harley decides to outsource to and where they are.

Jensenius said that if those suppliers are in the local region, they might be able to absorb some of the workers Harley would let go.

From a transportation standpoint, it might make sense for Harley to outsource to companies nearby, he said.

Sweeney said that Harley has not designated any firms to outsource work to yet, but said the company would look to outsource the work mostly domestically in its existing supplier network, including some suppliers in Pennsylvania.

Sen. Bob Casey released a statement about the outsourcing plans Wednesday evening, saying he was disappointed part of what is now done at Harley's Springettsbury Township site would go elsewhere.

He continues to urge Harley to keep core operations in York County.


Shrinking workforce

Before the now long-running flurry of job reductions began at the facilities in York County, about 3,000 people reportedly worked at Harley's York County operations.

The local union this summer put production workers at around 2,150, not including nonproduction positions.

That number was further reduced by a previously announced layoff of around 71 workers earlier this fall.

Many nonproduction workers also work at the site, although those ranks have also been hit by reductions.