Hershey Chocolate cutting 11% workforce, moving operations to Mexico

[B Calm]

Cheap Labor Conservatism rolls on!

CHICAGO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Hershey Co. (HSY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday said it would cut about 11 percent of its workforce and reduce the number of production lines it operates by more than a third as it spends as much as $575 million to overhaul its manufacturing.

The largest U.S. chocolate maker also said it will build a new, cost-efficient manufacturing plant in Monterrey, Mexico.

The company said it will cut about 1,500 of its more than 13,000 jobs in the overhaul. The amount of production from North America and Canada will drop to about 80 percent from the current 90 percent once the manufacturing change is completed, the company said.

The move comes as the maker of Hershey's Kisses and Reese's peanut butter cups has lost market share in the United States to Mars Inc. Hershey has been trying to increase sales by focusing on its core brands, while developing new lines like premium dark chocolate.

Hershey also said it still expects sales to increase by 3 percent to 4 percent in 2007, with earnings from operations up 7 percent to 9 percent. The earnings forecast is below the company's long-term goal of 9 percent to 11 percent, but in line with the company's previous forecast.

More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idUSN1523644620070215

[goclark]

1. How many American Companies are still in America?!

[ulysses]

2. hell, define "American company"

Yay, free trade!

[B Calm]

3. Hershey even had a US town named after them. This is sad!

[ulysses]

4. that occurred to me too.

Maybe they can rename it to "Boundary-Free Capital, PA", or "Giant Sucking Sound, PA".

[B Calm]

6. Sales Increase, Pa

[ulysses]

7. Bottom Line, PA

Sucks To Be You, PA
Labor Standards? How You Like These Apples?, PA
Would You Like Fries With That?, PA

[B Calm]

8. Unemployed, PA or maybe Outsourcing, PA

[ulysses]

9. we should send these to corporate. n/t

[B Calm]

11. Globalization, PA The corporate lords don't care, because the

ugly truth is they don't like working people! The only prosperity they want is limited to them.

[ulysses]

13. exactly so.

We need a new labor movement.

[WinkyDink]

16. The town was named for Milton S. Hershey, not the candy, although he was the

founder of the company.

[Nikia]

18. They are still mostly in America

It doesn't say that they are moving their headquarters. It doesn't say that they are closing plants, although they might. They are cutting some American jobs and building a new plant in Mexico. Large American companies do this all the time.

[B Calm]

30. Anytime a company's US production drops and moved to Mexico

no matter what %, they are looking for cheaper labor to replace the hourly US worker. Once the US workforce is destitute and desperate for any job they can get, they'll come back and pay us what they pay people in Mexico.

[HereSince1628]

5. Cut and run economics in the US is OK, cut and run warfare in Iraq isn't.

In the end which one is going to hurt the American people most?

[applegrove]

10. In this case..I think sugar subsidies make the price of sugar too high

for candy companies.

[whistle]

12. Puts them closer to the cocoa bean plantations

[WinkyDink]

14. Milton would be aghast. He started a school for orphaned boys, so shipping away

jobs would not sit well with him, IMHO.
"The mission of Milton Hershey School is to nurture and educate children in financial and social need in keeping with Milton and Catherine Hershey's Deed of Trust. Today there are children of all races, gender, and religious backgrounds."
http://www.miltonhershey.com/

[RB TexLa]

20. So if there is a facility built to serve children in financial and social need in conjunction

with the Monterrey plant you think he would be "Aghast?"

[WinkyDink]

35. Why don't we wait and see if if there is?

[Coexist]

15. Nooooo!

OMG - I love Hersey, PA.

This sucks as much as when Levi's left.

What's next, Wilson footballs?

[Nikia]

19. Most of the company is still in in the U.S.

They are laying off a fair amount of Americans and building a new plant in Mexico. This doesn't mean that they have left the United States.

[kestrel91316]

17. From now I'm only buying Dagoba (organic fair-trade) or

Scharffenberger (California mfr) chocolates.

Hershey's is crap.

[niyad]

22. hershey OWNS sharffen berger

Hershey is going gourmet
Candy giant buys Berkeley chocolatier Scharffen Berger
Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 26, 2005




The Hershey Co. announced on Monday the acquisition of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Inc., allowing Hershey to reach beyond its traditional chocolate eaters and tap into the gourmet market.

Scharffen Berger, a Berkeley company that specializes in premium dark chocolates, will continue making its products as normal but said it will have greater access to resources and growth opportunities by joining forces with Hershey.

. . .
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/26/BUGM6DTAOM1.DTL

[niyad]

24. sorry, they own dagoba, as well

Manufacturing plants
The first plant outside Hershey, Pennsylvania opened on June 15, 1963 in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada.<15> Another plant, covering two million square feet of manufacturing space (185000 square meters), is the largest chocolate factory in the world;<16> the factory opened on May 22, 1965 in Oakdale, California.<17> These are the major factories for Hershey's, as tours are offered in the Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada plant. Tours were operated in the Pennsylvanian factory, but this no longer the case.<18> Visitors to Hershey, Pennsylvania can now experience Hershey's Chocolate World visitors' center and its simulated tour ride.


Other sales and acquisitions
In 1986, Hershey's began a brief foray into cough drops when it acquired the Luden's cough drops brand. By 2001, the brand had been sold to Pharmacia.<19> In 1988, Hershey's acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute many Cadbury-branded products in the United States. Cadbury creme eggs sold in the United States are imported by Hershey from Cadbury in the United Kingdom.<20>

On July 25, 2002 it became public knowledge that the Hershey Trust Company was seeking to sell its controlling interest in the Hershey Foods Corporation. The value of Hershey stock skyrocketed 25% with over 19 million shares trading that day. However, over the next 55 days, widespread press coverage, as well as pressure from Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher, the Community of Hershey, and Dauphin County Orphans' Court Senior Judge Warren G. Morgan, led to the sale being abandoned. The seven Hershey Trustees who voted to sell Hershey Foods on September 17, 2002, for US$12.5 billion to the William Wrigley Jr. Company were removed by Attorney General Fisher and Judge Morgan. Ten of the 17 Trustees were forced to resign and four new members who lived locally were appointed. The former Pennsylvania Attorney General, LeRoy S. Zimmerman, became the new Chairman of the reconstituted Milton Hershey School Trustees. Mr. Zimmerman has publicly committed to having the Milton Hershey School Trust always retain its controlling interest in The Hershey Company.

In July 2005, Hershey acquired the Berkeley, California-based boutique chocolate-maker Scharffen Berger.<21>

In November 2005, Hershey acquired Joseph Schmidt Confections, the San Francisco-based chocolatier.

In November 2006, Hershey acquired Dagoba Organic Chocolate, a boutique chocolate maker based in Ashland, Oregon.

Hershey's chocolate is available across the United States, due to their wide network of distribution.<22> They have three mega distribution centers, with modern technology and labor management systems.<23>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hershey_Company

[SoCalDem]

27. Yep.. If you can't "beat" them.. eat them..

Buy up companies, put their workers out on the street, and quietly put the brand "to bed"..

[chaska]

21. Contact info:

[e-mail]

1 800-hershey

[chaska]

26. CORRECT CONTACT INFO:

http://www.hersheys.com/contactus/

[B Calm]

48. Thanks

[HuffleClaw]

23. the great CENTRAL american chocolate bar!

yum

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

25. Too bad they can't find a place where there's complete slave labor

I'm sure that if slavery were brought back somewhere in the world, U.S. companies wouldn't hesitate an instant to take advantage of it and try to improve their bottom line for the shareholders.

[Sapphire Blue]

49. "if slavery were brought back"??? Please meet Mark, and Drissa, Nizam, Abak, Naresh, and Salma...

His name is Mark: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Sapphire%20Blue/164


Slavery Today - Drissa's Story: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Sapphire%20Blue/159

[jus_the_facts]

28. Yay...next there'll be bags of Salmonella/ Cholera Kisses for sale here....

....I'd bet on it. :nopity:

[magellan]

29. Hershey's should be run out of this country on a rail

...for supporting the child slave trade in Africa, from where it gets a lot of its cocoa. It's no surprise they're now going to exploit cheap Mexican labor as well.

[Bluebear]

38. You said it. nt

[1monster]

31. My husband has a brand new large bar of Hershey's Special Dark

sitting in the refrigerator.

He has decided to sent it back to Hershey's with a letter telling them that this family will not eat outsourced chocolate bars...

Darn. We loved Hershey's. Oh well, que es la vida.

[sarcasmo]

32. Hersey's kisses made with product from Mexico. Anyone want my bag?

[B Calm]

33. I couldn't help myself, I sent this info on to Lou Dobbs..

[Robson]

34. Some like Hershey outsource, some like Swift insource

The issue being discussed is the screwing of middle America by corporate conservatives such as Hershey looking only to increase their bottom line without regard to the welfare of the US worker.

Many companies such as Swift are also guilty of shoving aside American workers in favor of illegal immigrants. Either way the outcome for America is the same as the American middle class being put of work or forced to work for less so that CEOs can receive bigger bonuses. This is not a nuanced issue as some may claim. It's nuanced only to those that haven't yet been affected by job loss.

Either you support American workers or you support a bigger corporate bottom line. Those are the choices for the Party.

[B Calm]

36. Swift?? is that the trucking company?

[Robson]

37. Swift Meatpackers

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=67...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16169899 /

Sorry I should have said Swift/Foods/Meatpacking.

This is one possible solution for those American worker employees that have been hurt. Sue the companies for illegal activity.

[B Calm]

45. Since I'm a truck driver, that was only company I could think of. Thanks

[sweetheart]

39. warmer, less energy to melt the chocolate

I guess all heat-process firms will be moving south.

[Horse with no Name]

40. Somehow it is NOT appealing to me to eat chocolate made in Mexico

Sorry. I think I will pass. LITERALLY.

[Robson]

41. Bush & Corporate America Doesn't Like Country of Origin labeling

I agree. If all our food products have country of origin labeling...made/produced in????, then companies such as Hershey might think twice about outsourcing to Mexico. The food industry has worked hard to restrain such laws as a requirement on food. They say it would be a hardship.

Then if COOL was a requirement on processed foods they'd probably import illegals hoping to get cheap labor at home.

[foo_bar]

42. didn't Mexicans invent chocolate (xocalatl)?

[Virginia Dare]

43. Mexican chocolate is actually very good...

but I'd rather have my Hershey's made in America.

[Nikia]

44. Companies like Hershey's won't let their standards be lax

For one thing, it would be illegal to sell chocolate bars in the U.S. that don't meet U.S. standards. Secondly, they have very good food safety programs that they would implement there as well.
I work for a companany that sells food products in the U.S. and for export. When we sell to the E.U., we have to meet their standards.

[B Calm]

46. I do like their beer. Love Pacfico.. I never known Mexico for their

chocolate!

[sakabatou]

47. Ach, that sucks!

Any other chocolate/candy names/brands/busineses on the West coast that are good?

[Patchuli]

50. Yes, with San Francisco Values too!

http://www.ghirardelli.com/ ;-)

[sakabatou]

53. Dammit, forgot about that one!

I love the mint chocolate which they make.

[Az_lefty]

51. American Company...America...what's that???

I remember America, I grew up there a long time ago. It was, at the time, a really decent place. So much has changed since then. I think it began when one knuckle dragging president thought he could run roughshod over a bunch of brown skinned people in the middle east. Eventually, they knocked down some of our buildings and then another knuckle dragging president when ape-shit crazy and invaded the wrong country. Well, without going into too much detail, the America I grew up in and the one a whole lot of people had respect for, is gone. It no longer exists. I hate to tell my children this but I will. I'm going to show them a bunch of pictures from a much simpler time and explain to them what America used to be. So sad...so long ago.

Peace...

[B Calm]

52. I am 56 years old and worry everday for my children. Will

they end up working 25 years from now for the same wages that I make today?

[Deja Q]

54. Remember this next Valentine's Day...

Tell them to melt their gooey expectations.

[Canuckistanian]

55. Hershey's is shutting down Canadian operations as well.

Smiths Falls will fight to keep Hershey plant open, mayor vows
Last Updated: Friday, February 16, 2007 | 4:48 PM ET
CBC News

Smiths Falls will do "everything in our power" to keep Hershey's chocolate plant going, Mayor Dennis Staples vowed Friday, after the company announced it may close the factory in the eastern Ontario town.

Losing the factory, which employs 400 people, would be "a huge, huge challenge for a small community of 9,000," Staples said.


The Smiths Falls chocolate plant employs about 400 people.


(CBC)

He added that the company has already cut 100 jobs in his community in the past 15 months and the town is losing 830 jobs with the closure of the Ontario government's Rideau Regional Centre for the developmentally disabled.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/02/16/hershey.html?ref=rss

And, as an added bonus for Smiths Falls, they recently got a Walmart!