This is the result of unions and high labor cost.

After 107 Years, Will Harley Leave Milwaukee?
Harley Davidson Warns Manufacturing Operations Will Roll Out if Labor Costs Don't Come Down

(AP) It's the roar that made Milwaukee famous - the distinctive throaty rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But that much-loved racket could be rumbling away to another state if the company cannot bring down its labor costs.

Harley-Davidson warned employees in April that it will move its Wisconsin manufacturing operations elsewhere if it cannot cut millions of dollars at the factories that build the bikes known as "Milwaukee Iron."

Harley's corporate headquarters would remain here, but that's small consolation to a community that has already endured repeated blows to its civic identity.

"When you think of Milwaukee you think of beer, brats and Harley-Davidson," said Steve Daily, a researcher at the Milwaukee County Historical Society. "Right or wrong, that's what it is."

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