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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 5:39 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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luneib
Posts: 732
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This manufacturing firm has been in business since 1919 when they first opened in New Haven, CT. Here is an article I found on the latest happenings at that plant in Naugatuck, CT. The employees will be allowed to post to jobs at their Virginia location, but with a soft housing market, I can't see how people are going to be able to sell their homes and move if that is their intent under the circumstances. I feel really bad for them.
Hershey Closing Peter Paul Plant In Connecticut
Manufacturing.Net - April 26, 2007
"NAUGATUCK, Conn. (AP) - The Hershey Co. will close its Peter Paul candy factory, which employs about 200 people making Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars, as part of a wider move to cut labor and materials costs, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
About 150 jobs will move by the end of the year to a plant in Stuarts Draft, Va., where the candy will still be manufactured, Hershey spokesman Kirk Saville said. He said the Naugatuck plant is operating at less than 40 percent of capacity.
In February, the nation's largest candy-maker said it will eliminate 1,500 jobs and one-third of its existing production lines over the next three years.
Hershey said it plans to build a new plant in Monterrey, Mexico, and shift more manufacturing to contractors in the United States. The company said it has agreements with Indian and South Korean companies to make and distribute its products in Asia.
The proportion of Hershey's manufacturing in the U.S. and Canada will shrink, from 94 percent now to 80 percent by 2010, the company has said.
In recent weeks, Hershey has said it will cut up to 900 of the 3,000 workers from three plants in its hometown of Hershey, Pa., and close a plant in Smiths Falls, Ontario, affecting more than 500 workers. On Monday, Hershey announced plans to shut down a plant in Reading, Pa., and eliminate 260 jobs.
Naugatuck employees will be eligible to apply for jobs at the Virginia plant, which makes a variety of Hershey and Reese's products. Those who do not will receive eight to 65 weeks of severance pay, depending how long they have been with the company. They will also receive career assistance and financial counseling, Saville said."
Production Shift Sours Hershey's Profits
Bittersweet Goodbye: Lenny Retiring As Hershey CEO
Hershey Names New CEO
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 7:22 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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iglooo101
Posts: 6,062
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Hershey's Smith Falls plant to close
Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada
More than 500 employees were warned
earlier this month the company would likely
close the 44-year-old factory
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Business/2007/02/23/3657554-sun.html
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 7:32 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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twotall911
Posts: 13,048
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cant wait for candy to come out of china 
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 8:33 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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grumblebear
Posts: 10,559
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Hershey is just doing what all American companies have done... move production overseas to increase profits, to cut costs, etc...
Americans can't compete in manufacturing jobs, our minimum wage is more than most make in a day overseas.... its a sad statement, but people in America care more about profits, than taking care of their local communities...
its been happening for a long time, and isn't going to stop....
heck the lawyers are upset, 40,000 lawyer positions shipped to India
so even the white collars are getting scared
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 8:51 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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Laidback742
Posts: 4,679
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Wonder how these employees feel after Hershey just gave away $300,000 on "Deal or No Deal".
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 9:21 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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iglooo101
Posts: 6,062
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My feeling is that what is going on
is contrary to what the original owner
would have done.
The original owner of hershey was
about society etc...he adopted many
many kids.
My opinion is that the people running
the show now do not uphold the same values
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 9:30 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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luneib
Posts: 732
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grumblebear, I just read that article on the outsourcing, it's no wonder there are not enough jobs in America for American workers.
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 9:52 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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Always_Striving
Posts: 8,794
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Grumblebear is correct.
I want to add that it is investor(s) which own the companies, not the employees. Many employees may feel that the company that they have worked for owe them something more than their salaries, pensions, severance programs, etc... because they feel that they are the people that have labored hard and are responsible for bringing the riches to that company. I understand that.
Companies to an extent have compassion in some cases by offering severance packages, cobra plans, job location options, and workforce re-training. I feel that they are "being generous" when I read that they offer those options because I honestly think that they really don't owe anyone anything more than what they are legally obligated.
Sure, they have given people livelihoods with the good paying jobs in most cases so that the workers can buy homes and toys and provide benefits to their families, but the companies are not an extension of your parents (meaning that they aren't there to feed you and provide a roof over your head like mommy or daddy once did).
The existence of a corporation or company should be to create profits for its owner or its shareholders.
If the shareholders foresee better opportunities in a foreign country that does not bind their activities with labor and environmental laws and is not regulated by the way which the company operates, suppression via collective bargaining (unions) then it would be wise for all of the shareholders to unanimously agree to make plans to move their production and maybe their management operations offshore and also to work with lobbyist to ensure that lawmakers in Washington D.C. will be empathetic regarding import/ export laws.
I think that United States citizens should make efforts to move out of manufacturing and production type jobs because those are low skill. We should be training for occupations which require our minds for creativity and solution oriented issues (professional type jobs).
We will still need services type of industries: Garbage collection, construction trades, locksmiths, etc.... because those types of jobs cannot be exported....they are required "On The Spot". I also don't believe that our domestic related jobs involving national security should be exported.
Everything else is game.
[Edited on 11/16/2007 10:08 PM]
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| Nov 16, 2007 @ 9:54 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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Angel54214
Posts: 18,199
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Hershey as built plants in Mexico, China and India. The cut backs started last spring. Oakdale, CA is nearly closed now...
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/05/01/hershey_to_close_calif_plant/
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 8:30 AM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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iglooo101
Posts: 6,062
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CPA study of Mexico/China food safety
Ames, Iowa
June 21, 2007
The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today urged all Americans to contact their state’s congressional delegation and demand that our government take emergency action to protect our nation’s food supply from contaminated and potentially deadly food imports.
http://www.prosperousamerica.org/news_&_updates/testimony/
cpa_study_of_mexico%
10china_food_safety_2007062719.html
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 8:32 AM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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iglooo101
Posts: 6,062
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Salmonella, is one of the things
they are worried about
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 8:55 AM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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Always_Striving
Posts: 8,794
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Do you feel any safer knowing that almost all of our food supply is engineered and under the control of The Monsanto Corporation? 
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 9:30 AM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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iglooo101
Posts: 6,062
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Always_Striving,The Monsanto Corporation
###
That is a totally different ball of wax
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 1:28 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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sweet5red
Posts: 9,704
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they just closed a georgia pacific plant not to far from here.. that made pulwood and wood products and paper.. that shut down a little town called logansport totally..Sweet N Louisiana  
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 1:55 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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candylily
Posts: 1,347
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The biggest factory in Connersville just moved it's machines to Mexico a month or so ago. My dad had worked there when I was a kid so it had to have been here quite a while. NAFTA was as big a mistake as the unions thought it would be. I know the story coming from the business sector is that the economy is great but I think every baby boomer knows better. Our kids have it much harder than we did. When all the factories and decent wages that go with them, move to Mexico and Asia, that only leaves highly skilled technical or medical jobs, etc or jobs in stores and restaurants that pay nothing and have no benefits. There are no decent jobs for people who are smart and dependable but who don't have graduate degrees.
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 5:52 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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grumblebear
Posts: 10,559
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The cycle continues...
I don't like what corporations are doing. but competition is the culprit.... except for national security issues, corporations are not allowed protection from foreign companies.... Hershey has to compete against Nestle, (child labor violations) a Swiss corporation using child labor in cheap third world countries,
yet those children help support their families because wages are so low in those countries....
Some corporations do not allow child labor on their products in overseas factories... so during the inspections, the children are hidden, or sent home...
Many companies try to hold to the moral "high ground", but we all want it cheaper, and look away at how we exploit and subsidize child labor, and abuse....
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| Nov 17, 2007 @ 10:16 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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candylily
Posts: 1,347
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Competition isn't the problem. Corporate greed is. When companies move their factories to Mexico or overseas, they don't lower the prices of their products that they ship back into the US, but the shareholders and executives obviously start earning a whole lot more since they're no longer paying American wages and benefits. Other countries have obstacles and protectionist policies against US goods. Protectionism in America is a dirty word and that's just plain stupid. It makes no sense to enrich a small segment of society at the expense of the majority of American workers. We can't compete against people who work for practically nothing. I bought my own house by myself when I was 25. There's no way kids can do that now. Wages have remained stagnant for the last 20 years but prices have risen on everything. I don't know how they manage to twist the economic numbers to get them to say the economy is great, but every single baby boomer knows it was much easier for us to buy houses and get ahead than it is for our kids to do it.
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| Nov 18, 2007 @ 9:45 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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Say_Yes
Posts: 2,225
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Actually, if you read Hershey's 10-Q, you will find that the reason for plant closures here result from a loss of demand for their products. Hershey's sales have been declining for years, as people have moved away from their products. Add in the high cost of dairy products (thanks to the ethanol boom) and you have an industry with increasing costs, lowering demand and no pricing power. With that in mind, it is not surprising that Hershey is closing a plant in CT and shifting business to a lower cost plant in VA.
At the same time, while the American market for Hershey's products are shrinking, their Asian and Latin American markets are growing. They are building plants and increasing manufacturing in these areas, not so much to import to the US, but rather to supply those markets. The following is from their most recent 10-Q.
Net sales for the first nine months of 2007 were slightly lower than the comparable period of 2006 as lower sales volume for existing products in the U.S. was substantially offset by volume increases from the introduction of new products, primarily in the U.S., and higher sales for our international businesses, primarily Canada, Mexico and exports to Asia.
People want to complain about plant closures, but they continue to shop at Wal-Mart, the home of cheap import products. If you want to support American industry, then buy American products.
[Edited on 11/18/2007 9:54 PM]
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| Nov 18, 2007 @ 10:00 PM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses
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Say_Yes
Posts: 2,225
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Wonder how these employees feel after Hershey just gave away $300,000 on "Deal or No Deal".
If they have half a brain or more, they will realize that $300,000 is about the cost of employing six people for a year. In other words, in a company the size of Hershey, it is inconsequential. Spending $300,000 as an advertising expense, had no effect on manufacturing jobs in America, unless of course, it results in increased sales, which would result in an increase in jobs.
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| Nov 20, 2007 @ 3:59 AM |
Another plant closing in Connecticut, more job losses |
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Always_Striving
Posts: 8,794
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No one in the United States of America owes another person a job.
They don't OWE them anything. It is a privaledge to be hired by a person, a corporation or a company, but it is not a person's birth right to be employed. If one CHOOSES to work for another person then they will play by that person's rules and not their own, for it is the employer that has chosen to utilise and exploit that employee for profit over choosing the former or the later applicant in line.
They don't have to answer to employees, they can do what they want because the company is their creation and is their liability. Employees are pretty much going along for the ride whether they feel that way or not.
It's almost socialistic to say that a company has to bow down to its employees desires. Why should the United States close its borders now when it comes to free trade? Do you favor Isolationism?
Is it because we have trade deficits with the countries which export to us? Whose fault is that? I'll tell you ........ It's the United States consumers fault for buying foreign made products at a low cost so that they can turn around and have more money to spend on even more foreign made stuff.
Can this be changed?
A message needs to be communicated with corporations and companies explaining that their products and/ or services will not be purchased unless they are built by the hands of U.S.A. citizens. Unless they feel an emminent threat of a loss of profits, they will not change their manufacturing and distribution stategies.
If they are not getting that message then not enough people really care to make them even slightly shudder.
Hence, things will remain as they are.
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