Devastating for the people in the area and not just the Heinz workers, but all other businesses that deal with the plant as well as the retail businesses that sold to workers who will now see their incomes slashed.
I agree, stop buying from Heinz, but if we're going to do that, we should also stop buying from all companies that are increasingly having manufacturing done in other countries which has taken jobs from Canadians. North American corporations are using desperate slave labour in other countries to line their pockets with more profit at the expense of their own people. But I guess money has no conscience.
"North American corporations are using desperate slave labour in other countries to line their pockets with more profit at the expense of their own people."
That is one version, one interpretation.
Some may look at it differently and ask the question why do WalMart, discount and dollar stores exist? Because most consumers - that is everyone of us - prefer to or have to purchase at lower prices. Consumers shop for value and given a choice between a brand selling their product for $3.00 and another selling a similar product for $1.50, a growing number will select the $1.50 product resulting in the eventual demise of the factory producing the $3.00 product.
Some factory owners and managers will do what they can to lower costs to salvage their business and the jobs associated with it. Unfortunately, in many instances in means the jobs will be located somewhere else at a much lower cost to the factory.
The solution to that growing problem rests with consumers.
The announcement:
H.J. Heinz Co. is closing three plants in North America and cutting 1,350 jobs in an effort to operate more efficiently.
The food maker said Thursday that it will close facilities in two states and Canada over the next six to eight months. The cuts total 200 jobs in Florence, S.C., 410 jobs in Pocatello, Idaho and 740 employees in Leamington, Ontario, in Canada.
Heinz will shift production from these locations to other existing facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
The company also said it will invest in remaining facilities and add 470 positions at five factories in Ohio, Iowa, California and Canada.
After the changes are complete, Heinz will employ approximately 6,800 hourly and salaried workers at sites across North America. This follows its decision in August to cut 600 jobs in North America.
Heinz was acquired and taken private by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital earlier this year.
You have no argument with me when it comes to the consumer being equally responsible........if not more. I can tell you this in all honesty, when I can buy Canadian or even items made in the USA I will before I will buy something made in Mexico or off shore. I have set foot in Wallymart only once, stayed about 5 min and left and never returned. The one problem I do have as many people in Canada and the US have is ..........where exactly is something made? Many products do not put the truth on the label. Many products may say "Made In Canada" when it was actually only partially assembled in Canada or packaged in Canada. Food, same deal, where did it come from? We don't really know as much as we should. There are some things that you just cannot get away from buying that are not made in here and that is because the corporations have maneuvered manufacturing in such a way as we have no choice.
We have experienced plants closing here and there and it's become almost common place, but Leamington is a real wakeup call. 750-800 people out of work and then there are all the other job losses and possible closings that will come from that loss of income from the major employer in the area.
All we see increasingly are the wealthy making more money and the people who once had good jobs that held a future for their families and the economy, going downhill. Students aren't interested in trades anymore, because there are fewer and fewer trades. More and more of them want to go hi-tech and the market is flooded with everyone looking for the same job.
We don't create anything anymore, nothing to be proud of, except on a computer screen. A friend of mine just closed his garage down because there is no money in it anymore between the constant changes in vehicles and the costs to keep up with tools and diagnostic equipment. The car manufacturers have created products that can only be fixed in a dealership garage and that plan was started many years ago and has finally reached it's goal. My sister-in-law went out to buy a new dining set for Christmas. Everything out their is made in Mexico or off shore, pure garbage and in a few years it will be on the curb for garbage pickup because it's not even worth repairing. The only good furniture she found was made by the Amish or Mennonites but they don't have a lot of style to chose from. She found two stores that said Mennonite 'style' furniture but it was really imported from Taiwan. Even myself, I have long hair which I usually keep in a ponytail and at one time I could buy good covered elastic bands made in the USA. They lasted and lasted. Now all I can find is garbage made in China that snaps and goes flying across the room the fist time it's used or the elasticity doesn't last past two uses. So from A to Z, from big money items to the smallest, all we are increasingly given as a choice is imported **bleep**! This traps us into buying more and more and more and makes corporate headquarters wealthier, but our expenditures greater and for a lot of people their private debt larger.
Heinz will shift production from these locations to other existing facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
I read the media issued statement, but even though they will shift production to some locations, I will bet they will also increase or add to production in Mexico. Right now Heinz is doing damage control to protect their product name, but like all corporate head offices they are not telling all the truth and certainly not all their plans.
"I have set foot in Wallymart only once, stayed about 5 min and left and never returned."
That is who you are, what you do. However, you are not the "average" Canadian (if there is such thing).
Walmart Canada operates 317 retail outlets nationwide and serves more than one million customers daily.
While you may have different values, I hope you have an open mind to understand that the majority of Canadians see it differently. At the end of the they make the buying decisions that will affect Canadian workers in factories and distribution centres.
"While you may have different values, I hope you have an open mind to understand that the majority of Canadians see it differently. At the end of the they make the buying decisions that will affect Canadian workers in factories and distribution centres."
Yeah I guess I do have different values. I was brought up to care about the other person as much as myself and in some situations, before myself. I also lived it when I watched my father lose his job because of corporate greed and after 26 years of working hard and having only one day off when he was injured, I watched a man who felt lost, with no purpose. That's why I will NEVER work for anyone in my life, because for a majority of companies, people are expendable, like Kleenex, to be discarded when not needed anymore.
I'll tell you a story that just happened this morning. I quoted a job at a home yesterday and the woman called up today and said she decided on a different change. I said ok, no problem. There was silence on the other end of the phone and she eventually said "how much more will that cost"? I said "nothing, no extra cost". She said "what!....other places would charge extra". I replied ...."yes they probably would because they could and you wouldn't know any difference, but in reality the altered work doesn't really make any difference in time or labour compared to what was going to be done in the first place, so why should I charge extra"? Those are my values.
As for an open mind to understand that a majority of Canadians see it differently.........certainly I understand that as I understand that greed and the 'self serving me' world that has always existed, but seems to have just gotten worse. Of course people are also put into these positions sometimes through their own mistakes and other times through corporate manipulation. The cost of everything is going up (too long a list) and people feel they have to buy cheaper to save. The problem is every time they buy an imported product they might possibly be hurting a Canadian or American worker. I'd rather spend 50cents more buying tomatoes for instance and help a neighbor, than spend 50cents less and help a wealthy corporate executive or a corrupt government in another country.
"I understand that greed and the 'self serving me' world that has always existed, but seems to have just gotten worse."
Please keep an open mind. Those millions of Canadians who shop at WalMart and other discount stores do NOT necessarily do it out of greed but out of necessity. They simply cannot afford to pay higher prices.
The thousands of Canadians working at WalMart and other discounters have the right to a job, to get a paycheck at the end of the week and are thankful for the patronage of millions of Canadians - otherwise they would also be unemployed.
Unfortunately, retail workers working at Eaton's - a higher priced retailer - were not so lucky when the Canadian consumers decided to shop elsewhere.
As stated earlier, the final decision rests with the consumers, not head office staff or managers who usually react to forming trends to save their operations and employees.
"Please keep an open mind. Those millions of Canadians who shop at WalMart and other discount stores do NOT necessarily do it out of greed but out of necessity. They simply cannot afford to pay higher prices."
And the question is why can they not afford to shop elsewhere? Could it be because of lost jobs, cut rate wages and increasing higher taxes and user fees put on by governments, the same ones who supported free trade and more imports? But seriously, many of those millions that shop at Wallymart can afford to shop elsewhere. My sister-in-law and my niece and other relatives and neighbors all shop at Wallymart and they are hardly scraping through. They just want a deal, plain and simple.
''The thousands of Canadians working at WalMart and other discounters have the right to a job, to get a paycheck at the end of the week and are thankful for the patronage of millions of Canadians - otherwise they would also be unemployed.''
Pierre, I can't believe you actually said that. Would people rather work at Wallymart for min wage or in a manufacturing plant and make money that has some resemblance of a future? And the only reason they would be unemployed is because all the good manufacturing jobs have GONE.......to Mexico and overseas. Then along comes Wallymart and it's ''take this job or have nothing''. It's the same basic line used on people in other countries where they are so desperate for a job they will work for 35 bucks a week in horrible conditions because something........is better than nothing. The whips and chains have gone but slave labour still exists. Thankfully here we at least have min wages that are enforced or Wallymart would get away with 5 bucks an hour.
"Unfortunately, retail workers working at Eaton's - a higher priced retailer - were not so lucky when the Canadian consumers decided to shop elsewhere."
Imported, cheap, slave labour manufactured goods, the same reason again.
"the final decision rests with the consumers, not head office staff or managers who usually react to forming trends to save their operations and employees."
Yes and no. Corporations will always try and make more money because enough.......is never enough. So although consumers are a factor, corporations also look at manufacturing costs and labour and if they can make more money by having products made elsewhere........they will.........and they don't care one iota about their own people, or their own country. Make no mistake about that.
''Would we see the same whining if a Canadian company closed one their US branches ?''
Certainly, by the people who lost their jobs, and I would think it was equally unfair.
And why is it classified as "whining"? These people have lost their livelihoods, their incomes and that effects them, their families and their whole communities. That's far from whining!
"I can't believe you actually said that...."
While we may have relatively similar social values, the main difference is that you want to see the world as it should be while I see the world as it is.
I would not call your sister-in-law and niece "greedy" because they shop at stores offering lower prices for the same merchandise. You seem to think that by having consumers pay higher prices for the same goods, store employees would earn more. That is not the way the world works. Your sister-in-law and niece are doing the right thing: getting as much value as they can for their money.
The result of their thrift benefits Canada.
Yes. Think about it.
The extra money in their pocket will either be spent for more goods, benefiting the economy at large, or will reduce borrowings that may have been needed by paying higher prices or money in the bank allowing more money in circulation for the economy. Either way, it is win win win for everyone.
I never understood why someone would pay $3.50 for a loaf of bread (or whatever) when the same bread is available at $2.50 elsewhere. It does not make sense to me to waste money. I do not see how anyone benefits with waste.
You seem to think that workers have a choice between high paying manufacturing jobs and low paying retail jobs. In the world we live in, there is no such choice. We have to accept the world we live in. It is not Utopia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia
PS - Yes, your sister-in-law and niece could shop at one of the few unionized grocery stores and pay substantially more for the same goods. Does that make sense to you? It does not to me.
“While we may have relatively similar social values, the main difference is that you want to see the world as it should be while I see the world as it is.”
Nearly correct. You do see the world as it is and I see it that way as well. However I won’t accept it and I will speak out about it, as others do, with the hope that one day things may change for the better. Too many people say “this is the way it is” and continue to let big business get away with whatever they want. Through history there have been many people of many nations who have not accepted the status quo and made changes.
“I would not call your sister-in-law and niece "greedy" because they shop at stores offering lower prices for the same merchandise. You seem to think that by having consumers pay higher prices for the same goods, store employees would earn more. That is not the way the world works. Your sister-in-law and niece are doing the right thing: getting as much value as they can for their money.”
I never did call them greedy. To me they are sheep who have got caught up in what they are told they should be, with little thought about others. Now if my neice and her husband lost their jobs because suddenly where they worked closed down due to cheap imports……..then they would have a massive change their attitude.
When it comes to “value”, I get value for my money. ‘Value’ is all in the perception. I have found that items made in Mexico or from countries offshore are for the most part cheaply made and planned obsolescence. While some people are buying items that they need to replace and spend yet more money on within a year to five years, I buy items that last me a decade and many of them a lot more. I bought a home 29 years ago that has increased in value 12 times over. I buy antique furniture that increases in price and when the time comes when I decide to sell some of it, I’ll get back more than I paid. I buy good used vehicles for cash that are well maintained and they depreciate little. I bought an antique car that has increased 10 times in value. I have no mortgage and owe no money elsewhere. That’s how I was brought up, spend wisely, spend when you have it and save money in the right places. My niece and her husband are up to their necks in debt and still spend. Nice house, new cars in the driveway, trips for vacations, the kids get all the things they want, but in the meantime they are paying interest rates that turn a 10 dollar item into a 15 dollar item (as a minor example). Certainly they are keeping the economy going but at what price? They will be in debt their whole lives unless they get lucky with an inheritance (and it won't be mine). Is that how the economy should run? Did the Americans not learn a lesson? Did we not in the late 80’s?
“We have to accept the world we live in.”
I accept its existence. I do not accept it should or will stay that way. Neither will I live that way. I’ve always lived by my gut and it has rarely let me down and like what I predicted would happen in the US and what happened here, I firmly believe we will hit a financial crisis in Canada, or the world, and as has always happened, the people on the bottom of the stick will pay for it. Part of the reason is because of the global economy that we have attached ourselves to and become so dependent on and in the meantime forgotten our own people. Harper feels we have to become less dependent on the USA and actually I agree with him on that, however, he is slowly selling Canada off to worse countries in order to achieve that. I feel we have to be part of the world but we have given away too much and although some people do not believe in insulating themselves (their country) I feel we need to because when you leave the windows open too wide your home gets full of insects and they’ll eat you alive if given the opportunity. Big corporations, banks, traders, investment firms, they all want to play the game, as long as they are using someone else’s money.
Yes, your sister-in-law and niece could shop at one of the few unionized grocery stores and pay substantially more for the same goods. Does that make sense to you? It does not to me.
Yes it makes sense. I could go to a big box store and buy tools that were made in Mexico or China and save money, but instead I buy from a small local hardware store and I buy Canadian or American. This helps the store owner and the staff and the community and the people who made the product and if you want to stretch it out even further.......it helps the workers communities as well. I will not give my money to a communist country or a corrupt country or to corporations that use people as slave labour in order to line their own personal pockets. People shouldn't be thinking about just me, me, me, we are responsible to a lot more people and starting with our own people and our own workers and our own country.
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