Hershey Strike FAQ Version 1.0 Last modified: 05/15/02 Feel free to distribute
*When did the strike at the two Hershey plants begin? April 26, 2002
*What percentage of the workers at the two plants voted to strike and when? 86%, on April 16th, 2002
*How many workers are on strike? Over 2700
*Where? At two plants - 19 E. Chocolate Ave. and 1033 Old West Chocolate Ave., Hershey, PA, USA
*What union and local are the workers in? BCTGM local 464 - Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union
*Is the union in any union federations? BCGTM is in the IUF and is an AFL-CIO associate
*Why are the workers on strike? The main reason is that in the new contract, their health care copayment costs are doubled. A more minor issue is that the last contract expired in November, 2001, and the negotiations were dragged out - they want the new contract to be retroactive to that date in terms of the raises. The raises are 2.7% a year for four years - with an inflation rate of 3% this is actually a pay cut, but this isn't even really an issue, the doubling in health care costs is the more important.
*Why does Hershey want to double the health costs, is Hershey struggling financially? Hardly. One year ago, Hershey got a new CEO, Rick Lenny. He made $22,425,470 in 2001, 598 times what the average striking worker makes. Hershey is profitable and has seen earnings growth in the past year. Hershey sends out $1.21 in dividend per share, which is a yield of 1.77%. The Hershey bond yeild is over 6%.
*Have there been strikes at Hershey's before? The last strike at Hershey's was 22 years ago. In 1937 there was a sitdown strike with a violent confrontation between the strikers and strikebreakers.
*What are the names of the union officials? Frank Hurt is president of the BTCGM. Robert Oakley is a VP of the BTCGM.
*Does plant shutdown affect Hershey? Hershey and the union dispute how much this hurts Hershey. Hershey spokesmen say the plant shutdowns won't effect them supplying customers. The union disagrees, and says that some thing like Hershey miniatures can't be made, and the other plants won't be able to keep up production of Hershey products. Hershey says these plants do 25% of production, the union says they believe it is more like 40% of production.
*How can workers like me stand in solidarity with the strikers? Well, there's a number of things you can do. You can spread word of the strike to other labor-friendly and progressive people and give moral support to the workers. Hershey's new CEO Rick Lenny is spending lots of money on newspaper ads in Pennsylvania defending Hershey management and owners, and attacking the strikers. He knows that community moral support is important, and he is trying to get it from himself instead of the strikers through PR expenditures for corporate media. The union can't afford to tell their side of the story so we have to help spread the word and give them moral support. What's happening in Pennyslvania is important, but as people who have won strikes have said, building widespread moral support and solidarity outside of the immediate region of the strike is important to help win the strike.
Consumers can support the strike by following consumer tactics for people in solidarity with the strike, which come straight out of the union local. In the short-term, buying Hershey, especially stuff that was made in the now idle plants on strike helps them. It dries up inventory and the other plants can't keep up with production - and for things like Hershey miniatures, they can't keep up production at all since these two plants are the only ones that make them, and they're lying idle. I am a Hershey consumer as it is, so I've been hoarding the chocolate syrup which I buy anyway, and I bought some Hershey nuggets as a snack, since I eat candy anyway and buy that sometimes. So in the short-term, I'm hoarding the Hershey products from those plants I usually buy, and am choosing to buy the products from there that I only sometimes buy. Of course, if Hershey decides to hire scabs for those two plants, tactics definitely may change. Hershey is a consumer company, which depends on good PR - they are probably less likely to hire scabs than companies that don't depend on good PR from the average working class consumer. Of course, if they do hire scabs, it's possible the consumer tactics will do a 360 degree turn, from short-term hoarding to long-term boycott. I for one would never buy a Hershey product again if they decided to use scabs.
The union local also has a strike fund. I'm personally sending them a check, although not a huge amount of money, what I can afford. Hopefully others will follow suit and a lot of little checks will become a big pile and make a difference. The strike has been going on since April 26th, 2002. This will help them hold out longer than they would have originally. Of course, not everyone has a lot to spare, and some can't spare anything. That's where you can use consumer tactics. And if you can't do that, spreading word of the strike and the ways worker can be in solidarity is helpful as well. Every little bit of pressure brings the Hershey CEO closer to the bargaining table.
*Where can I get more information about the strike?
http://www.bctgm.org The union web site, which has web pages with links to articles
http://www.labourstart.org Search the web site for "Hershey"
http://www.hersheychron.com News articles on Hershey strike
http://www.phillyimc.org Hershey articles and news bulletins with discussions
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=hershey&as_ugroup=misc.activism.progressive Articles on Hershey strike
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=hershey&as_ugroup=alt.society.labor-unions Articles and discussions on Hershey strike
*The BCTGM is not progressive enough for me. Instead of supporting the strikers, I'd prefer to complain about how the BCTGM union does not live up to my particular -ism.
Well, I'm sure the BCTGM, and the federations it is in, the IUF and AFL-CIO, could be more democratic and progressive than they already are. I really think however, when 86% of a union local rank and file votes to strike, as well as other specifics regarding this, that we workers should stand in solidarity with our fellow workers standing on that picket line.
I ask that the discussion does not totally devolve into griping about how the AFL-CIO is not as progressive as you would like.
If you're more interested in non-constructively and harshly criticizing all existing unions and union federations except yours, I ask that you reply here instead of tis forum or mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Progressive_Union_Griping
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