Business Notes

Harley-Davidson, one of U.S. industry's inspiring success stories of the '80s, roared from near bankruptcy to market dominance through a combination of Japanese production methods, stiff temporary tariff help and, most visibly, employee involvement in the enterprise. But last year the Milwaukee-based maker of monster motorcycles -- hogs, to their fans -- began pushing for more involvement than some workers wanted. Result: in early February employees at Harley's assembly plant in York, Pa., walked out. Management had proposed, among other things, varying factory employees' pay according to the quality and quantity of their production, while union members wanted the security of a fixed wage. The strike threatened to unravel years of productive cooperation and undermine one of the most heartening examples of U.S. manufacturing's turning itself around. Last Friday company and union announced they had reached tentative agreement on a new contract. Neither side would disclose terms.