Posted on 08/06/2014 3:03:23 PM PDT by BenLurkin
CHATSWORTH (CBSLA.com) — Hundreds of Angelenos could soon be out of work after Nestlé USA announced it will relocate a Hot Pockets facility in Chatsworth back east.
KNX 1070’s Margaret Carrero reports the 184,000-square-foot production facility in the 9600 block of Canoga Avenue has been making the popular snacks since 1988
The Glendale-based Nestlé USA will move the Chatsworth operation to another facility in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, where the company will invest $13 million and hire 150 new employees locally as the operation converts to a round-the-clock schedule, officials announced.
Approximately 360 employees will be impacted by the closure, but Nestle officials say some may be able to relocate to their Kentucky facility where Hot Pockets production will be shifted some time in October.
In a statement, Nestlé USA’s Chief Technical Officer Martial Genthon said the decision to consolidate production to one location came after exhaustive analysis.
“Unlike other manufacturing facilities we operate in California, the Chatsworth facility presents some challenges to our business needs,” said Genthon. “While the decision to stop manufacturing Hot Pockets at our California facility is a tough one because it affects 360 of our Nestlé employees, it is the right decision for our business.”
Nestlé USA bought the Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets brands in 2002.
Local business owners like Lonell, who has owned a small machine shop in Chatsworth since 2011, said she can understand the move given the city and state’s high tax rate.
“They tax you on the seat you sit in, the computer you use, the machinery you use, then you have to pay tax to keep the machinery and operate it,” she said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
It was not immediately clear what will happen to the facility once Nestlé USA completes the transition.
Economist William Roberts, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at Cal State Northridge, told the Daily News that it will not be easy to repurpose the facility or replace the jobs.
“There is still a lot of empty space throughout the Valley so it’s not like there is a lack of places to buy and build something,” he said. “I’ve seen places lie vacant for five or six years.”
They'd find their standard of living would be greater in Kentucky, on the same salary they're getting in L.A.!
He actually said that??????
Indeed he did. Here is the exact quote from his interview in 1995. Brown had been Governor of California twice when he said this -
“The conventional viewpoint says we need a jobs program and we need to cut welfare. Just the opposite! We need more welfare and fewer jobs. Jobs for every American is doomed to failure because of modern automation and production. We ought to recognize it and create an income-maintenance system so every single American has the dignity and the wherewithal for shelter, basic food, and medical care. I’m talking about welfare for all. Without it, you’re going to have warfare for all. Without a universal health care like every other civilized country, without a minimum level of income, this country will explode. You can’t blame the guy at the bottom forever. At some point there’s a reaction and we’ll see that the real criminals are those calling the tune, making the rules, and walking to the bank. We have the money, we have the brain power. The United States now has the highest measured wealth of any nation ever in the history of the world. We could rebuild our cities, we could create the kind of buying power and community well-being that will provide for peace. The guaranteed income is one way. Another way is to have always the availability of work in a nonprofit, in community service. A third is to start giving people training to develop skills where they can be self-supporting. You could come up with a cash supplement. Even conservatives have suggested a negative income tax to cut out the bureaucracy. If we were smart, we’d get rid of welfare and give people a family assistance like they do in Europe…
The problem isn’t even a problem. Automation and technology would be a great boon if it were creative, if there were more leisure, more opportunity to engage in raising a family, providing guidance to the young, all the stuff we say we need. America will work if we’re all in it together. It’ll work when there’s a shared sense of destiny. It can be done! It’s all there! What isn’t there is the leadership to create the kind of social network, the safety net, the distribution that would truly create a just and equal society…”
California Gov Jerry Brown circa 1995.
Another addition to his Greatest Hits collection is his admission on the national news that he and all politicians liars and he lied to get elected elected.
He said this in 2010, a year or so before he lied to California again and was elected.
FWIW, Jerry is running for re election this year as Gov of California after he lied his a** off in his last campaign and is almost certain to win re election in 2014 after lying his a** off in this years campaign.
He plans on running for President in 2016.
Only in America
Californians are too stupid to breathe on their own and have to be taxed to pay for the government funded CalMe420 reminder to inhale.
Enjoy - this is one of the most amazing interviews in American political history.
They probably are, a piece at a time.
You just can't make this stuff up.
And Californians still elected him Governor after this
What an idiot.
Expensive, come on, the bride and me can get a “good meal” for about $11.00
I ate a lot of Hot Pockets when I was out of work don’t buy them now. Some of them are not so bad, for a quickie microwave meat pie.
They aren’t bad this way! Heat em up tear the top off and fill em up with Pace Picante sauce.
Hot Pockets are legendary for their wickedly hot hot spots when heated in the microwave. They’re right up there with frozen burritos in that regard.
Relocation is expensive. A company is not going to pay for that for line workers, or commodity people like IT or accounting or HR.
Heck of a job, Brownie.
Those look great! Can I get them in Alabama?
You can always make your own.
http://www.recipe.com/michigan-pasties/
You can also order them but I can’t vouch for the quality.
There’s better food than Hot Pockets cheaper. Heck I figured that out in the 90s before Trader Joes was around, now with TJs it’s even more so.
Uh yeah, they’re frikkin’ gross.... And yes I have been starving and I have been broke.... Very, very broke and very hungry....I still don’t appreciate having my taste buds assaulted. Hot pockets suck and it makes me wonder about those who like them. I mean, people actually like them enough to pay good money for them and eat them? Are these people like so lame that they couldn’t even fry an egg or something? Everything has to go in a microwave? Don’t even get me started about those who would give this crap to their kids.
One thing I will say is that for such an awful product the ad campaigns have worked miracles for them.
That mindset is one of the reasons I hate Jerry Brown’s guts and liberals in general.
I’m impacted hard by crap thinking like that.... Jerry Brown is not impacted by it at all.
Hypocrite!
Where was the company moving jobs from?
I know a couple of guys that followed jobs with what eventually became Wells Fargo; they had been First Union employees in NJ, Wachovia employees in PA then VA, and Wells employees in Charlotte. With each move the group got smaller (guys with homes/families were unlikely or unable to move); eventually two remained.
“Relocation is expensive. A company is not going to pay for that for line workers, or commodity people like IT or accounting or HR.”
Oh, I’m not even talking about doing it on the company’s dime; even if the people could do it themselves, I assume there would be friction in terms of lower pay (even with the lower costs of living). I don’t think any of these jobs are moving from low-cost areas to expensive ones (where salaries would have to bumped UP); they all seem to be going the other way (naturally).
It was mostly union jobs from MA and OH.
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