BY DANIEL VICTOR
Of The Patriot-News
It is what The Hershey Co. didn’t say about its planned job cuts that generated so much angst and fear among the blue-collar workers who make the candy.
The company yesterday announced that 1,500 jobs will be cut within three years, but workers don’t know which ones. The company said it will build a plant in Mexico.
The workers who make the candy that helps define the region’s identity described the mood inside Derry Twp. plants yesterday as tense or fearful.
“Nobody knows nothing,” said George Lehman, who has been with the company for 27 years, after finishing his shift in wrapping. “It’s all just hearsay.”
Kay Brown, also ending her shift in wrapping, said the news made it difficult to keep up with a busy day in the plant.
“That’s all I’m hearing about,” she said.
The Hershey Co. hasn’t said which plants could see a reduction in positions. A company spokesman said some plants will be expanded, some will be downsized and some will be closed.
The company scheduled a meeting at 7 a.m. today at the Hershey Theatre for the employees of the 19 E. Chocolate Ave. plant. Workers at the Reese’s plant were gathered early yesterday, but one worker said officials did not answer a series of questions.
Dennis Bomberger, business manager of Chocolate Workers Local 464, said he’s worried that local plants could be closed.
“You can just hope it’s not going to be the ones here,” he said.
Bomberger said he would hope “sentimental value” would play a part in protecting the workers at the plant at 19 E. Chocolate Ave.
With 2007 being the 100th anniversary of the Hershey Kiss, he said, “Wouldn’t that be a heck of an anniversary?”
The smell of chocolate often fills the air of Hershey, and the company is similarly ingrained in the community.
The Hershey Co., which makes its famed chocolate bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups, employs about 5,400 people in the region. It is 30 percent owned by the Milton Hershey School Trust, which runs the school that provides education and housing to 1,300 disadvantaged children.
This isn’t the first time Hershey Co. employees have worked under uncertainty. The company was put up for sale in 2002, sparking massive protests in the community. A $12.5 billion offer by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. to buy the company was derailed after the community rallied against the sale.
Derry Twp. supervisor George Porter said the community owes much to the company.
“This town was built by Milton Hershey, has been many years dependent upon The Hershey Co. for its success and quality of living, and we owe a debt of gratitude to The Hershey Co.,” he said. “We owe them an obligation of understanding, to work with them, be patient with them and support them in any way we can.”
State Rep. John Payne, R-Derry Twp., said Hershey is talking about a substantial reduction in manufacturing capacity.
“I’m very much concerned that plant closings do not affect the plants down in Derry Twp.,” he said.
It could be that the closing of production lines happen at plants outside of Derry Twp., making the company more profitable and protecting local jobs, Payne said.
“If that’s true, that makes me feel a lot better,” he said. “If they close one of the three plants here, that’s a different story.”
Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration stands ready to help any affected employees, a spokesman said.
A lot of Hershey employees live in the Palmyra area, said Palmyra Borough Council President Richard Mazzocca, and any job cuts at The Hershey Co. could also affect other area businesses, such as warehousing and packaging operations.
Mazzocca said the community is lucky to have expansion at another large employer in the area, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, which plans to add more than 2,000 jobs with the construction of facilities.
But The Hershey Co. plants are “mainstays,” with more blue-collar jobs than the medical center, Mazzocca said.
“I imagine the only reason they are going to Mexico is cheaper labor,” he said. “I think the tradition of Hershey is going to be hurt by that.”
Several dozen Hershey workers declined to comment yesterday, some fearing being singled out by management. Others would only comment anonymously.
“Sure, it concerns us, and it should concern the rest of Hershey, too,” one man said. “You know as well as I do that if this place goes, the rest of Hershey goes with it.”
“We work hard in here,” said a worker with 26 years at the company. “It seems like it’s a never-ending battle.”
It’s especially discouraging, he said, to hear the company is building a plant in Mexico. “We need jobs in America.”
One worker repeated several times: “Hershey’s not Hershey anymore.”
“You just have to wait and see what happens,” said Jim Menicheschi, who has been with the company for 17 years. “You never know what the hell’s going to happen around here.”
Staff writers Barbara Miller, Sharon Smith and Jan Murphy contributed.