Posted on 06/09/2007 8:15:48 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
Edited on 06/10/2007 7:30:25 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
OAKDALE, Calif. - On a warm May weekend in this Central Valley town, the irony was thick.
As usual, the annual Chocolate Festival was drawing hordes of fun-seekers. But Hershey Co., Oakdale's biggest employer and the nation's biggest candy company, is closing its plant here, eliminating all 575 jobs. The company will open a factory in Monterrey, Mexico, to handle the production.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
“global supply-chain transformation.”; in other words, “hey U.S. workers, %#$@ You”.
yup...
a race to the bottom....
someone get Congress and this Admin deported NOW!
BUMP what you said.
The article doesn’t mention anything about unions. I wonder what that forklift operator is making?
I wonder what those “pay and benefits” are that will be difficult to find nearby?
Any time the government touches industry, you're FUBAR.
In all seriousness, I feel bad for anyone who loses a job. Lets face it, however: working in a factory as an unskilled worker is what you do if your only alternative is picking crops. Even in places like China, automation has caused industrial jobs to decline.
If Hersey's moves down there and succeeds, good for them! If they don't have good QC down there, then they will suffer the whims of the marketplace.
As far as you "anti-messican" populists out there, remember that it is better that they work down there, than come up here. Some of us would LIKE to see a prosperous Mexico, rather than it being the proverbial whipping boy of the "Angry American."
This is a huge problem here in the US. Price supports on ANY product is bad news. Let the market sort it out. The sugar growers can switch to bio-fuel crops or something.
By the way, there is a chapter in the book "Parliament of Whores" by P.J. O'Rourke that deals with US agricultural policy, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture.
Don't drink the water... Can you eat the chocolate?
We can live without Hershey products. Lets see how much money they save, when Americans quit buying.
It wouldn't even matter if the operator was union. Now he doesn't have a job. And if it was up to Hersey (or you) it be the same as the Mexican equivalent...or say Vietnam? Granted we're discussing a low skilled labor that may be minimum wage (government mandated living wage) but remember it's not just lower skilled labor getting shipped outside the USA.
Oh, no it's not. There are 30+ posts so far, and about 25 of them are of the "I'll never buy again" variety...
During the Depression the company was expanding and engineers explained to Mr. Hershey how much money they could save by using bulldozers and modern construction methods. He refused to do it when he determined how many more workers he could hire if the company didn't use the mechanized equipment. Hershey had the capital to provide the jobs and still make a profit.
Milton Hershey is now spinning in his skivvies.
They're going where they're welcomed and not taxed into near-bankruptcy to support illegals and socialist welfare programs.
I've wondered the same thing. Corporations ship jobs oversees. Illegals flood into America to take the remaining blue-collar and technical jobs that are left. For less. Government and Business together turn a blind eye. Not every American-born citizen can get into management and both government and business have decide that you don't need English as a first-language for entry-level positions.
It might not be so bad if there wasn't already a welfare state in place. That's because individuals would be responsible for nearly all social services as well as getting on the ball to learn the language. No social services, no extended families to abuse them. Workers would come to fill shortages, learn the language to compete, pay their way while they were here, and wire anything extra to family back home.
As it is, the social welfare situation is compounded for the worse because it is offered to law-breakers without the need to prove citizenship.
And we haven't even begun to talk about the unlicensed, uninsured, repeat-offending illegals.
It boggles my mind. The only think that makes sense to me is that government at almost every level seems to condone this state affairs because business still turns a profit and revenue still flow into the government's coffers.
...no need to buy chocolate, anyway. That stuff is poison.
Excellent point!
Bush and Teddy the Swimmer are busy working on that very problem.
me too. I’ll be buying Trader Joe’s chocolate instead.
local store here.
me too. I’ll be buying Trader Joe’s chocolate instead.
local store here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.