Heinz Companies outsourcing

What say you Mr. Kerry?

1 posted on 08/11/2004 10:50:39 PM PDT by Elkiejg

I don't have a lot of use for Kerry, but I accept the explanation I've heard about the Heinz outsourcing: it's necessary because they're selling products in those regions, and it's easier to keep them fresh and accomodate local tastes if production is located closer to where they're consumed. I imagine those production facilities were never in the US to begin with, so it's not the same as the "outsourcing" that everyone complains about. Not that I have a problem with outsourcing anyway; I think capital should flow to where it can maximize returns.

I prefer his idiotic explanation on owning an SUV ("it's the family's") as an example of his hypocrisy.

2 posted on 08/11/2004 11:05:58 PM PDT by John Jorsett

To: John Jorsett

I imagine those production facilities were never in the US to begin with, so it's not the same as the "outsourcing" that everyone complains about.

I agree that there are different business reasons for having product produced in other countries.

That said, it isn't a good rebuttal to the "outsourcing" charge to say that "by design" they have always relied heavily on foreign labor so subtle shifts in the job force do not indicate a "radical" change in policy.

Consider if a company always polluted in third world countries and only slightly increased this output. "We've always done business this way" is as weak a response as "I was just following orders".

3 posted on 08/11/2004 11:15:56 PM PDT by weegee (YOU could have been aborted, and you wouldn't have had a CHOICE about it.)

To: John Jorsett

John,

The next time anyone is at the grocery store, they should check where the Heinz Ketchup is made ... I will check myself here in N.Texas, and let you know.

Someone was telling me last night that she had a Heinz Ketchup product that was made in China ... don't know the truth of that ... but, wouldn't hurt to check!

We haven't bought Heinz for about a year. I don't like what Therayza contributes to the Tides foundation, and what they do with it.

4 posted on 08/12/2004 6:57:39 AM PDT by Tilly (I'm not paid to be stressed!!!)

Why not manufacture in America and ship finished products overseas?

Let's be fair. When you are growing tomatoes and cucumbers in South Africa, and making ketchup and pickles for South Africans, you probably want to prepare and pack them in South Africa if you want to make any money. Odds are that Heinz some time ago bought up an existing production operation in each country.

5 posted on 08/12/2004 7:10:45 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your Friendly Freeper Patent Attorney)

The next time anyone is at the grocery store, they should check where the Heinz Ketchup is made ... I will check myself here in N.Texas, and let you know.

I happened to be in the store this morning. The ketchup said "Made in USA". So did a jar of Heinz sweet relish.

6 posted on 08/12/2004 12:19:49 PM PDT by John Jorsett

Heinz funds flowing — to GOP

By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Though John Kerry's wife is an heir to the H.J. Heinz Co. fortune, the food company and its executives are providing President Bush with money and a campaign issue — jobs flowing overseas — in this year's election.
Image
Presidential candidate John Kerry joins wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, who gained millions through her Heinz inheritance.

Steven Senne, Associated Press
Members of the board of the Fortune 500 company and its corporate political action committee have donated thousands of dollars to Republicans in recent years, including contributions to the Bush campaign. The corporate PAC has given nothing to Kerry.

The Republicans are accepting the cash even as they criticize the Pittsburgh-based company's job cuts and overseas moves — part of an effort to taint the presumptive Democratic nominee with the conglomerate's business practices.

While Teresa Heinz Kerry gained much of her $500 million portfolio through her Heinz inheritance, she does not serve on the board and is not involved with the management of the company. Even her late husband, Sen. H. John Heinz III, R-Pa., did not serve on the board.

No Heinz family member has been employed by the company or served on its board since H.J. "Jack" Heinz II, its chairman, died in 1987.

Heinz Kerry, who heads the separate Heinz Family Foundation and the Howard Heinz Endowment, owns less than 4 percent of the company's stock. Major Heinz stockholders include the company's top executives, led by Chairman William R. Johnson, as well as beer magnate Peter Coors and former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and pro football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann.

During the campaign, Kerry has criticized companies that move jobs overseas or shift their tax status abroad to avoid federal taxes, calling them "Benedict Arnold" businesses. He has faulted the Bush administration for embracing a tax policy that rewards them.

Republicans, in response, have pointed to the Kerrys' ties to Heinz, calling the four-term Massachusetts senator a hypocrite for slamming policies that have poured millions into his wife's bank account.

Stuck in what it fears is a food fight is the Heinz Co., which is trying desperately to keep the campaign out of its ketchup sales. In the last few months, the company — which gets about 5,000 phone calls a month — has fielded 800 calls from consumers with questions or complaints about the company's connections to Kerry, his wife and the campaign, said spokeswoman Debbie Foster.

A look at the company's campaign donations shows a preference for Republicans. In the past six years, the Heinz company's political action committee gave more than $64,000 to GOP candidates, nearly three times the amount given to Democrats. It contributed $5,000 to Bush's campaign. It has shunned the Kerry campaign, but the PAC gave $5,000 to the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Johnson also put his money on the GOP, giving more than $20,000 to Republican congressional committees and candidates since 1999. Other board members have also contributed to Republicans, giving money to Bush's campaign and Pennsylvania's two Republican senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum.

Company spokesman Jack Kennedy said Heinz is nonpartisan and the PAC gives money to both parties. The heavy Republican totals, he said, may just be an indication of where corporate facilities are located.

Determined to make clear that it is not connected to the Kerry campaign, the Heinz company has issued statements about the relationship. "We want to make sure people buy our products on their merit. We're an equal-opportunity condiment," Kennedy said.

According to Kerry's financial disclosure report filed last May, Heinz Kerry owns more than $4 million worth of company stock. Heinz Kerry sold more than $14.8 million worth of Heinz stock in 2002.

"No, they don't run the company, but they still own a lot of stock. And Teresa has had a long relationship with the company," said James Glassman, a columnist and economic analyst at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "I think it's absolutely legitimate to point to Heinz and say here's a company with a close association with Kerry that is doing exactly the thing Kerry is condemning."

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson said the GOP is not going after the Heinz Co. but "will continue to point out John Kerry's hypocrisy when his record on the issues does not match his rhetoric."

Last month, the RNC issued a lengthy critique of the Heinz company, detailing hundreds of layoffs and plant closings in five states over the past nine years and pointing out jobs it created in other countries.

The multibillion-dollar Heinz Co. has about 38,900 workers worldwide, with 30 percent located in 27 factories scattered across 17 states. The other 70 percent work in facilities overseas.

About 60 percent of the company's sales are outside America, and the products sold in other countries are often made and marketed locally and in some cases are unique to that region. Tomatoes for ketchup sold in the United States are grown largely in the regions surrounding the major processing plants in Ohio, Iowa and California.

Besides its name brands, Heinz also makes and markets OreIda potatoes, Smart Ones frozen foods and Classico sauces. The company has 50 affiliates operating in 200 countries.

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595057647,00.html

7 posted on 08/16/2004 3:49:33 PM PDT by ET(end tyranny)

To: John Jorsett

Sorry it took me so long to get back to ya.

I've checked 4 grocery stores in my town. In two of them, the 64 oz. ketsup bottles say "Canadian Product."

In one of them, the 50 oz ketsup bottle, the lo carb ketsup and the "organic" Heinz Ketsup are made in Canada.

SuperWalMart has no foreign made Heinz ketsup of any size.

8 posted on 08/18/2004 1:10:05 PM PDT by Tilly (I'm not paid to be stressed!!!)

Don't forget to boycott this place, too:

Kerry's Restaurant & Lounge
301 Harrison St
Hollywood , FL 33019

9 posted on 08/18/2004 1:26:28 PM PDT by Nick Danger (www.swiftvets.com www.wintersoldier.com www.kerrylied.com)

Interesting. Do you live near the Canadian border? I'm a very short distance from Mexico, so if there were going to be foreign-made foodstuffs here, that's where I'd be expecting it to come from. That's the case for things like canned jalapeno peppers and refried beans and the like, but I haven't found a foreign Heinz product yet.

10 posted on 08/18/2004 1:27:58 PM PDT by John Jorsett

To: John Jorsett

No, N. Texas here. I also would have expected more Mexican production, but the products say "Product of Canada."

11 posted on 08/18/2004 3:31:28 PM PDT by Tilly (I'm not paid to be stressed!!!)

To: John Jorsett

As the H.J. Heinz Company reports in its most recent proxy statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Heinz Kerry is not on the company's board of directors, nor is she listed among the principal shareholders (those who control 5% or more of the outstanding shares). The charitable foundations she controls once held much more Heinz stock but sold off most of it nearly a decade ago to diversify their investments. The Heinz company said in a recent public statement that she currently controls less than 4% of the company's stock. The largest shareholder is actually a California investment company that owns roughly three times as much as the Heinz charitable foundations.

About all that is true in this e-mail is that the Heinz company has a number of factories overseas.

Its most recent annual report, also publicly available at the SEC's website, lists 32 factories owned in Europe (and three more leased), and 18 in Asia and the Pacific (plus four more leased). Heinz also reported selling just over $3 billion in products in Europe and more than $1 billion more in Asia and the Pacific -- accounting for roughly half the company's global sales.

The company issued a statement back in March, when this e-mail first began circulating, saying that 60% of its sales are outside the US (including those in Mexico and Canada as well as Europe and Asia) and that it locates plants in other countries "to accommodate those customers by providing facilities closer to those markets" and "to pack the freshest ingredients, tailor its recipes to local tastes and deliver the final products in a timely and efficient manner."

The company also distanced itself from the Kerry campaign and Heinz Kerry:

H.J. Heinz Co: In light of some misleading speculation, the H. J. Heinz Company would like to make clear that neither Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry, Senator John Kerry nor any member of their family is involved in the management or board of the H. J. Heinz Company. . . . They have no involvement in the Heinz® Ketchup business or any of the company’s other brands or products.

The Heinz company also said it is "nonpartisan." Worth noting, however, is that the company's Political Action Committee has given nearly all its donations to Republican candidates, including $5,000 to the Bush campaign and nothing to Kerry's as of the most recent reports available. That's additional evidence, as if any was needed, that the company isn't "owned" by Kerry's wife.

Update: On Aug. 9 the H.J. Heinz Company's Vice President for Corporate Communications, Debora S. Foster, sent us a letter stating that its PAC's practice is to support both major-party presidential nominees, "and because the Kerry campaign does not accept PAC contributions, (the Heinz PAC) is donating $5,000 to the Democratic National Committee." We received the letter Aug. 12 and are happy to note the clarification.

Sources

Heinz Endowments, "The Heinz Endowments Grants to Tides Center / Tides Foundation," news release, undated.

Howard Heinz Endowment, IRS Form 990PF, fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Vira I Heinz Endowment, a Pennsylvania Non Profit Corp, IRS Form 990PF, fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Gretchen Randall and Tom Randall, "The Tides Foundation: Liberal Crossroads of Money and Ideas," Foundation Watch, Capital Research Center, Washington DC, December 2003.

Tom Randall, "The Heinz Endowments have teamed with a secretive left-wing group ," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , 14 Dec. 14, 2003. (Also here ).
Dennis B. Roddy, "Right zooms in on Heinz grants; Heinz Kerry's foundation work provide grist for foes," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , 7 march 2003.

H.J. Heinz Company, "SCHEDULE 14A, Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934," 2 July 2004.

H.J. Heinz Company, "FORM 10-K: ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended April 28, 2004" 17 June 2004.
H.J. Heinz Company, "H.J. Heinz Company Confirms Its Widely Held Public Ownership And Non-Partisan Status," news release, 22 March 2004.

12 posted on 10/16/2004 8:42:11 AM PDT by Chiefs

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