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   Vol.66/No.20            May 20, 2002 
 
 
‘Wall Street Journal’ describes
stakes in strike at Hershey’s
 
BY GREG MCCARTAN  
A feature article in the Wall Street Journal May 1--International Workers Day--shed further light on the stakes in the strike at Hershey Foods Corp.’s two plants in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Some 2,700 members of Chocolate Workers Local 464 walked out April 26, rejecting the company’s demands that they sharply increase co-payments on their health-care plan.

The strike "has turned into an unusually personal attack against Hershey’s first outsider CEO," the Journal wrote. Richard Lenny was previously a top boss at Kraft Foods, owned by the Philip Morris company. Forbes magazine reports that Philip Morris ranked fourth in total profits of any U.S. firm in 2001, raking in $8.5 billion.

Some of Philip Morris’s huge profits are credited to Lenny’s antiworker cost-cutting drive. Since leaving Kraft Foods he has cut 800 jobs at Hershey’s, winning praise from Wall Street for bringing "world-class discipline to the business."

"Until Mr. Lenny came along in March 2001," the Journal wrote, "Hershey employees didn’t worry much about business acronyms like ZOG, shorthand for ‘zero overhead growth’ and a buzzword associated with Mr. Lenny on Wall Street. Now, his zeal for cost-cutting has become the subtext of the dispute."

David Nelson, from Credit Suisse First Boston, told the Journal that Lenny’s attacks are "a big departure for Hershey and a positive one."

Nelson’s remark highlights the different class views of the conflict. On April 23 union members voted by a 7-to-1 margin to reject the company’s concession demands, indicating they don’t think Lenny’s antiunion drive is such a step in the right direction. The workers pointed out that any increase in health-care payments will simply wipe out meager wage increases offered by the company.

Hershey’s showed its contempt for the workers when on May 1 it called back 129 union members who had been on lay off before the strike, demanding they cross the picket line or face losing unemployment benefits. All refused to cross.

Union members have put up a giant inflatable rat in front of the plant and christened it "Lenny." Signs on the picket line read: "Stop the greed, share the wealth," and "The sweetest place on earth went sour."

Hershey’s profits have climbed 10 percent over the last year to $87 million. Workers on the picket line told Militant reporters they simply won’t accept the company’s attacks at a time when Hershey’s is pocketing tens of millions each year. It’s no wonder the chocolate workers walked out of the plants. Only the nuts are left inside.  
 
 
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