WAUKESHA, Wis. — Harley-Davidson's three Wisconsin unions approved a labor contract Monday laden with concessions, reacting defensively after the motorcycle company threatened to move hundreds of jobs out of state.

The proposed deal freezes employees' pay, slashes hundreds of production jobs and assigns large volumes of work to part-time workers. But it also saves at hundreds of other jobs, at least in the short-term.

Some 1,140 union members from a suburban Milwaukee plant voted, approving the contract by a 55 to 45 percent margin. In northern Wisconsin, 293 workers at the Tomahawk plant voted, approving it by a margin of 73 to 27 percent.

Harley-Davidson executives had said they would move production out of Wisconsin if the contract were rejected, which would have eliminated about 1,350 jobs.

By The Associated Press