Steinway produced more than 3,500 pianos in 2002 at its New York and Hamburg, Germany, plants. Almost 430 people work in the New York plant and all but about 100 of them work in production. They are represented by the United Furniture Worker’s union. Seventy-five percent of the workers are paid on a straight-time basis; the remainder, primarily artisans, are paid on piece rates. Keeping workers has proved increasingly difficult as well-trained Steinway craftspeople are coveted by other manufacturers,and many of the workers could easily set up their own shop to repair or rebuild older Steinway pianos. Excess inventories due to weak sales both pre- and post-September 11 forced Steinway to adjust its production schedule; workers in its New York plant reported to work every other week rather than lay off the highly skilled workers needed to build its pianos.