Posted on 02/20/2009 3:02:43 PM PST by shielagolden
The Hershey Co.'s Reading operation is closing and 252 workers are losing their jobs A bitter taste
Reading never claimed to be the sweetest place on earth.
But since 1986, this self-appointed "home of the pretzel" has been the proud host of a Hershey Co. plant that cranked out somewhat glitzier snacks such as York Peppermint Patties, 5th Avenue and Zagnut candy bars and Jolly Rancher hard candies.
It all ends today. The last Peppermint Pattie line will come to a halt after the final swing shift, workers interviewed this week said.
Unlike with much of the grim economic news, the plant's 252 jobs are being lost not to the recession but rather a long-planned Hershey strategy to maximize profits by consolidating production at other U.S. and Canadian plants and at a new facility in Mexico. The strategy is costing about 800 jobs at Hershey's three plants in Derry Twp.
The few Reading workers willing to talk near the plant's gate said they appreciated Hershey's nearly two-year closing notice, as well as a company severance package they described as "fair."
But there's a lingering, bitter aftertaste at being replaced.
"That's 191/2 years I lost," said one 50-something worker who declined to give his name, fearing it could jeopardize his severance package. "I've got to start over. Hershey has been good to us. It's just a shame."
Hershey spokesman Kirk D. Saville declined to comment Thursday on the plant's operational details but said the company appreciates the workers' professionalism throughout a difficult period.
"This change was difficult for all of us but was necessary to ensure the long-term competitiveness of our company," he said. "We are grateful for their dedication, and we will continue to support our Reading employees through this transition."
A community reacts:
In the Reading community, there are signs of a backlash.
Some residents railed against the North American Free Trade Agreement, which they said encourages U.S. companies such as Hershey to export American jobs in order to import higher profits.
"It's good union jobs gone," said resident Anthony Capelli, 42, who said he attended middle school at the Milton S. Hershey School in Derry Twp., which is funded by the late company founder's endowment.
"Milton Hershey tried to help people," Capelli said. "His whole philosophy and his entire foundation was designed to help children."
Others vented at The Hershey Co., insisting their bitterness over the plant's closing would cause them to give up their favorite Hershey sweets in protest.
"Everyone says they aren't going to buy Hershey's no more," said Becky Ream, sales manager at North 8th St. Beer and Soda, across from the 400,000-square-foot plant.
Ream said she's sacrificing Peppermint Patties and her boss is swearing off Hershey's Kisses. But she conceded that their boycott would hurt Hershey far less than the plant closing will harm their business, which was supported by numerous plant workers.
"They'd stop for their beer and go home," Ream said. "I don't know how many, but a lot."
Saville declined to discuss the nature or volume of the public comments Hershey has received about the closing. He pointed out that after all of the planned supply changes, 90 percent of Hershey products consumed in the U.S. and Canada would still be made in this country.
Inside the plant:
Several workers said that inside the plant, most are resigned to their fate, which was announced in early 2007.
These days, they said, many of the plant's remaining workers are simply too exhausted picking up additional shifts to show much emotion.
A worker catching a last smoke before his second- shift job of mixing mint cream at 370 degrees said he's been logging seven-day workweeks as others call off on the weekends.
"It's coming to an end, and most of us are ready to leave," said the worker, 53. "Everybody just wants to get out."
While the final production line is to close down tonight, the workers said many of them will stay on to clean the plant and scour the candy-making machinery so it can be dismantled and shipped to Mexico, where the plant's Peppermint Patty line is being relocated. The task of mothballing the plant could last until March 20, the workers said.
What their futures hold beyond that remains a mystery to many of them.
The 53-year-old worker said he aims to head to South Carolina, where a brother owns five Burger King franchises. But a 40-year-old worker said he has no idea how he'll replace his $18-an-hour job at the plant.
"There is nothing out there right now," said the worker, who added that his wife recently lost her bank job.
Pat Murr, resources manager with CareerLink of Berks County, said displaced plant workers qualify for enhanced income support, retraining and tuition payments under the federal Trade Adjustment Act.
While she said Hershey gave the workers unusually long notice of the closing, it's too early to gauge how the workers will fare in launching second careers, especially in the midst of a recession.
"They've had time to plan and we have been working with them over the last year, but everyone goes through a process," she said.
Hulking factory remains:
The prospects for the plant -- a well-kept, six-story brick building in an otherwise depressed part of Reading -- are equally unclear.
The facility, which once housed the Luden's cough- drop factory, is listed for sale at $3.9 million. There's been little interest since the Reading School District backed off, area economic development officials said.
The plant is encircled by a new barbed-wire fence intended to ward off vandals once it's closed. The razor wire, along with a white- and-brown Hershey's flag flying at half-staff in honor of an employee who died of a heart attack at work last weekend, evoke an image of a siege.
But Jerusalem Amir, 36, and Peter Green, 49, who were temporary workers there as recently as fall, called it a utopia compared to other workplaces -- even at the daily wage of $9 an hour.
"I got along with everybody there," Amir said. "I liked my supervisors, and I loved working there. Closing it is all about greed."
Added Green: "I know some who went to work there right out of high school. People always did their jobs. Now they're just trying to get every last hour they can."
Zagnut is my favorite candy bar - just wish I had an easier time finding it... So few stores stock it.
WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fwqd3L3ZBU
Not my fault. Someone else isn’t pulling their weight...JFK
GOOD BY GM THANK TOO NAFTA VIDEO http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/lou/video/x2a7gh_lou-dobbs-china-manufacture-in-mexi_news
WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1590858026591557284&hl=en
America first.
BTW, I've been to places in Mexico where they have sewer systems ~ simply amazing.
Dude, if you REALLY wanted to work in a chocolate factory, you had TWO YEARS to make arrangements to find an opening in another Hershey plant and get the job, sell your house and move there.
Two years is a heck of a warning. Also, I spent 20 years in a job and went to another one. I didn't consider those 20 years wasted. There were good things I did, children raised, a lot of wonderful life lived. Years aren't lost, they're spent, one day at a time. What you do with them is up to you.
Unions
Unions.
Sugar tariffs.
They’ve had their intended effect.
Thanks, but I don’t really need a homework assignment. I already have enough to worry about w/taxes...JFK
Bastards.
This is the result of protectionist policies choosing sugar beet growers over those who produce candy products.
Other major self-inflicted wounds are the insistence that homosexuals and members of a death cult desrve tolerance.
Noooooooooo not peppermint patties.
Doesn’t really matter. Chocolate will be on the list of foods that the facists won’t allow us to eat anymore. Was just a matter of time.
You can blame the same people that brought us ethanol. The sugar lobby keeps the price of sugar artificially high in the US with tariffs on sugar. It is telling that Hershey’s can actually make candy cheaper in Canada! where there is no sugar tariff.
Ditto that.
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