Posted on 06/04/2002 10:04:06 AM PDT by Vladiator
Tuesday June 4, 12:01 pm Eastern Time
Reuters Business Report
Hershey Restarts Plant with Temp Workers
By Cris Foehlinger
HERSHEY, Pa. (Reuters) - Hershey Foods Inc. (NYSE:HSY - News), unable to convince striking workers to accept a new contract calling for an increase in their health care costs, on Tuesday said it restarted production at one of its two shuttered candy plants with temporary workers.
Negotiations aimed at ending a five-week strike at two plants, representing about a fifth of the largest U.S. chocolate maker's total production, broke off early Tuesday after a 21-hour session failed to yield a collective bargaining agreement, company and union officials said.
"This (strike) cannot continue," said Ray Brace, Hershey's vice president of operations and technology, in a statement early Tuesday. "We've now reached the point where important decisions are being made about the future of our business."
Investors have begun to worry that the maker of Kisses, Hershey's bars and other confections will have difficulty meeting production demands as it begins to ramp up for the critical back-to-school and Halloween selling season.
Hershey shares were down $1.78, or nearly 3 percent, at $64.00 on the New York Stock Exchange around midday Tuesday. The stock has fallen more than 5 percent since the strike began.
Hershey and some 2,800 members of Chocolate Workers Local 464 have been at odds over the company's move to double workers' share of health-care benefits to 12 percent.
In its statement Tuesday, Hershey said it had submitted a proposal at the talks which would have reduced the cost of prescription drugs for employees, simplified employee cost sharing on their medical plan and restored retiree medical coverage for some employees.
Union representative Robert Oakley said that the two sides had indeed made significant progress in the all-night talks. The sticking point, he said, remained workers' portion of the health care cost sharing, or so-called co-pay.
"The company wants to continue increasing the co-pays and we told them members wouldn't approve that," Oakley told Reuters. "We're so close to a settlement here. I don't know what more we can do for these people."
Hershey's Brace said that one of the two shuttered facilities, known locally as the Hershey plant, has already come on line. Plans are in the works to restart the other plant, called West Hershey, in coming days, he said.
The plants, which make confections including Hershey's Kisses, Bars and Reese's peanut butter cups, were shut down when the union went on strike April 26.
UNION WITHOUT CONTRACT SINCE NOVEMBER
Striking for the first time in 22 years, the union has been without a contract since its four-year agreement expired on Nov. 4. A unit of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International, the local returned to the bargaining table with Hershey on Monday morning, its second attempt at federal mediation after a failed attempt on May 16.
"Clearly from Hershey's point of view, they need to get these plants running at typical levels for this period of time in order to meet customer demand in the back half of the year," said Goldman Sachs food analyst Romitha Mally. "I think the (temporary) workers aren't going to be as efficient initially. There's going to be a period where they need to learn the ropes."
Hershey has assured Wall Street analysts it is capable of meeting customers' demands.
But more than most companies in the large-cap food sector, Hershey is a cyclical business, depending on key selling seasons such as the fall, and the Christmas and Easter holidays, when consumers stock up on chocolate and other sweets. (with additional reporting by Deborah Cohen in Chicago)
If they;re bringing in temp workers, I'm not eating Hershey's for a while - - not from a Union standpoint, but from a quality standpoint.
The choco is going to sucko.
A friend of mine is the HR guy for a health care facility chain who occassionally has to find replacement workers during strike periods. He says it's split 50/50 between southerners and U.S. territories. The vast majority are very well educated, eager to work, efficient, learn quickly, and don't spend their time bitching and moaning about how horrible their jobs are. They also come with a security detail that will be as armed as much as you want them to be if so desired. The only reason they take the union thugs back is because the law forces them to.
How dare the company expect the workers to pick up a portion of their increasing health care costs! < /sarcasm>
Ah, yes, I'll have to buy some too for the very same reason.
Not a union supporter myself, but I see this happening all over the country and the fact that these will be foreigners and illegals just stinks and it will only help my diet.
If they're stupid enough to stay off work, screw 'em.
Once the regular employees return, then you will have to once again resume counting the calories contained in Hershey's products. So, I would look upon this as a golden ooportunity to eat a lot of Hershey's without consequences.
Remember - temporary calories are a lot like calories consumed when no one is looking - they do not count in your daily intake. I have remained quite slim and trim over the years by utilizing exactly this method of eating. Normal meals of sensible portions of a balanced diet are consumed whenever I'm in the company of friends, family, wife, etc. I then make sure that calorie- or fat-laden foods are consumed when no one is watching. This keeps those calories from directly being applied to my hips, thighs, belly, etc.
You oughta try this diet of mine. Works as well as any other...
Michael
Having once been a union worker, I can probably assure you that these temporary workers will do at least the same quality as the Union workers.
Union workers by and large are fat, lazy, vindictive and over-paid. I'll bet that you can train a monkey to do these tasks.
Hail to Capitalism, death to Unions!
NOT ME. The chocolate will be better I'm sure. I hope the temps stay on forever and the union eats chocolate crow.
Yep, someone should tell them that self employed workers pay 100% of health insurance, not 6% or 12%.
I have an autographed picture of Ronald Reagan on prominent display and she refuses to enter (which is fine by me).
Who says that the Reagan legacy doesn't still survive!?
Believe the union propaganda if you want, my experience both first- and second-hand are contrary to that. Most are either Americans from southern states or from U.S. territories. Many large companies stick to workers from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, etc. because they don't require anything to get through the red tape. Many come from the southern United States as well because for whatever reason they want to work.
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