Hugo Boss to Close Cleveland Plant/Union vows to fight closing of Brooklyn plant

[ChromeFoundry]

Source: AP

December 30, 2009

German clothing maker Hugo Boss AG says it will close a plant in Cleveland that makes men's suits, but pay the 300 workers there through the end of April.

The company, based in Metzingen, and famed for its stylish fashion, said in a statement released Wednesday that the decision was made because the plant was under capacity and "the fact that it is not globally competitive." Hugo Boss makes two lines of men's suits there and no other fashion pieces.

As a result, it will not extend its collective bargaining agreement with the Workers' United union and close the plant after April.

Beyond Cleveland, Hugo Boss employs some 900 people in the U.S. in its stores and showrooms and administrative positions.

Also: "Union leaders vow to fight closing of Hugo Boss plant in Brooklyn"

December 30, 2009, 5:25PM
BROOKLYN -- The union that represents workers at the Hugo Boss plant here will fight the company’s decision — announced Tuesday — to close the plant.

That’s what Bruce Raynor, president of Workers United, Service Employees International Union, told the Sun Post Tuesday afternoon.

Raynor said Hugo Boss — a clothing manufacturer headquartered in Metzingen, Germany — plans to send Brooklyn jobs overseas.

"This is a sweatshop company putting American workers on the street to exploit workers in poor countries and send the profits back to Germany," Raynor said.

Raynor said overseas workers will earn less than $1 an hour working for Hugo Boss. He said the union will start a campaign to educate consumers on how the company operates.

http://blog.cleveland.com/parmasunpost/2009/12/union_leaders_vow_to_fight_clo.html



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9447320

[OhioChick]

1. And the Greed continues....A buck an hour...coming soon to your area. n/t

[Crzyrussell]

6. The only person who said anything about jobs

is the union guy.

"The statement said the plant is closing because it hasn’t realized its full production capacity and isn’t competitive globally"

The company has tried to make the plant profitable but was unable to.

Should the German company be forced to keep an plant open that can't even reach full capacity?

[proudohioan]

7. My boyfriend works for Job and Family Services

here in Cleveland. He said they got an e-mail today about this, just to alert the workers of the potential new clients in for services. Hugo Boss is currently paying between $14 to $16 dollars per hour at the Brooklyn factory. The offer on behalf of Hugo Boss was apparently $8.50 per hour.....

You know, I've really had about enough of this kind of shit!!!! I checked out the Hugo Boss website and wanted to PUKE!!!!! The rampant greed and whining from this age of corporatism is enough to make me scream!!! Cleveland has been hit hard enough.....Hugo Boss, go f#&@! yourself!!!!!

[OhioChick]

12. Sadly enough, Cleveland has been hit hard....

BTW...Welcome to DU. :hi:

[proudohioan]

15. Thank you, fellow Ohioan

Nice to be here.:hi:

[northzax]

36. look at the labels on your clothes

the ones you are wearing right now. go ahead, I'll wait.

now, I assume they were all made in the US? if not, why not?

and yes, I'll play the game as well. I am wearing three things not made in the US, my boxers (Malaysia) my shoes (Italy) my pants were made in San Francisco (cordarounds), my t shirt in LA (American Apparel) my other shirt in Pennsylvania, my belt in Pennsylvania (Bill's Khakis), my sweater in DC (ok, it's hand knit by a friend) and my socks in Wisconsin (Wigwam) where were your socks made? you do know, don't you? if not, maybe you should ask, before complaining about where stuff is made. are you part of the solution or part of the problem?

[boppers]

39. +1. Be part of the solution.

I'm wearing an US made, US fabric, Utilikilt, a hoodie from Honduras, and a T-shirt made in El Salvador from US fabric. If I can't get in-country clothing, I try for the same continent.

[POAS]

9. There are virtually no

plants at full capacity in this country. Shall we close them all down?

You further state that the "only guy who said anything about jobs is the union guy" while ignoring the company's statement "that it is not globally competitive." What the hell do you think it means when the company makes that statement. Their solution is to move the plant to a lower wage country which is about jobs.

[JoeyT]

14. Well

"Isn't competitive globally" translates into "We can chain children to a table and pay them twenty cents a week, so paying you livable wages isn't working out for us.". I can't say that's what it always means, but I can't think of a single time I ever heard that that it didn't mean that.
So yeah, we should get rid of the free trade nonsense and start putting tariffs on goods again. Then they can be "globally competitive" because they can pay 15 dollars an hour to a worker here, or 15 dollars an hour to get it into the country, plus the cost of shipping.

[No Elephants]

18. What do you think "not competitive globally" means? I think it means that

workers in other countries work cheaper than U.S. workers, so offshore the jobs to other countries.

[madrchsod]

32. i take your job will never be shipped overseas or south of the border

by the way the democratic underground supports american labor and american union labor. i thought i might inform you of this if you decide to stay here awhile.

[aquart]

2. Buy nothing Hugo Boss.

[Goldstein1984]

3. Union workforces are under attack everywhere

Witness Senator Jim DeMint's opposition to a TSA appointee on the grounds it might result in unionization of the workforce.

In Alaska, events seem to be unfolding that indicate the operator of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline selected a non-union contractor as a tactic to force labor unions to agree to wage and benefit concessions in order to retain their jobs. The TAPS operator would never have been able to remain in compliance with federal and state regulations pertaining to oil spill response and operator qualification with the non-union workforce, which would have required substantial recruiting of workers from outside the state. The inability of the operator to comply with these regulations during the contract transition and into much of 2010 is the most substantial evidence that the contract move was a tactic to squeeze the union. The low price of oil has resulted in reduced project activity and less work, which provides a good opportunity for union busting efforts.

[cap]

23. I wonder how Sarah Palin's husband is enjoying that one...

being a Proud union member /snark

[Flaneur]

4. Fuck you, Hugo--oh wait, this isn't a Chavez thread.

[WriteDown]

5. Duzy....

For those that get the joke.

[No Elephants]

20. Chavez's first name is not exactly a big secret at DU.

If nothing else, there must be Chavez threads a day in LBN alone, on average.

:eyes:

[WriteDown]

25. He was referring to a specific post on another thread. nt

[onehandle]

8. Last year, I bought a $900 dollar Hugo Boss evening jacket in a Paris second hand store for $40.

And no, it wasn't a knock off.

I have no point. I just like bragging about that.

[KoKo]

11. Bully for YOU! What is your point? You got it for $40.00...So What?

[No Elephants]

19. Did you read all four lines of the post before you replied, or are you being sarcastic?

[KoKo]

10. AND...Obama's Inauguration Suit Maker Closes Plant: Hart, Shaffner & Marx!

HartMax, Maker of Obama's Inauguration Suit Files for Bankruptcy...Unions Fight!

Edited on Mon Dec-28-09 10:27 PM by KoKo
This year saw a lot of economic upheaval and at least in the beginning, some militant labor action that the U.S. has grown unused to. Back in May, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis appeared on GRITtv along with labor activists from around the country to ask the all-important question: Why can’t we fire the boss? We wrote then:

Just last week Hartmarx, a Chicago company in the business of making business suits, including the one Barack Obama wore at his inauguration, filed for bankruptcy. Wells Fargo, its biggest creditor and a recipient of $25 billion in bailout funds, wants to liquidate the company. But Hartmarx workers have said no. On Monday they voted to occupy the Chicago factory if the bank goes ahead with liquidation. That’s just one of the many stories from around the world—from France, Poland, Canada, the UK, and Argentina—of workers taking direct action to save their jobs and rebuild the economy.

Why can’t we fire the boss? It’s a question Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis explored when they made their film, The Take, about Argentina’s movement of worker-run businesses. The idea may be catching on and last week we sat down with the filmmakers and with workers and organizers from Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago to talk about how direct action campaigns have fared.

Then an update on the Hartmarx campaign with Ruby Sims, President of Workers United Local 39C in Chicago and Joe Costigan Treasurer of Workers United Chicago Region. Finally, speaking of life and labor in precarious times, Andrew Ross, the author of Nice Work if You Can Get It joins us in our studio.

WORTH A WATCH:

http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com /

[naaman fletcher]

13. The original Hugo Boss suit

">


/really

[cap]

16. so why are we paying $900 for a jacket if the worker will earn less than $1/hr

what's the value add for that jacket? For $900, I would expect the seams to be properly finished, detailing to be perfect, material to be woven properly so that it doesn't deteriorate.

I do have to ask what are our values as consumers if we buy this crap? Because we have no community, no sense of nation, or real sense of self, we self-identify based on brand. We are what we consume. Depending on our subtribe, we are a Starbucks, Hugo Boss, Brooks Brothers kinda person. These are just simulations of value with no intrinsic worth behind them. No real notion of what makes any of these things have worth except what they can visually project.

Ironically, Hugo Boss is worn a lot on Wall Street.... So let's see... You've got men working 80-100 hours a week to wear crap. They are eating poorly, not exercising, denying themselves a real family life... and, let's call it like it is... a real sex life (I can't imagine most of them being real stud muffins) so they can buy crap. All of man's basic needs, except a perverted sense of self esteem, are being denied. Well... I guess there are plenty of psychologists making a pretty penny off of this up in New York City.

Please don't think I am trying to drum up a chorus of sympathy for Wall Street. I am just trying to point out the Delicious Irony.

Look at the stuff that the workers were wearing in the "Look for the Union Label" video. It looks like the material and the workmanship, but not the styling, used in high end clothes today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO7VUklDlQw. Now, I am warning you... you may not agree with the fashions the workers are wearing... but, the clothes fit. Unlike a Brooks Brother's shirt today. Honestly, most men look like a piece of crap in Brooks Brothers clothes. They just don't fit right and tailors can't fit them properly. So what's the point of forking out that kind of money? Except to signal that you belong to the tribe of the overlords and not the peons.

Let's look at the contrast with the workers in the video... Say what you will about the fashion, by and large, the clothes fit these people. These folks ate properly by brown bagging their lunches and coming home for dinner, had health care and a pension, had time to pursue hobbies (some of which did include sports), had enough time for family life, and probably had a real sex life.

So we lost all these things that have intrinsic value: decently made clothes, properly made meals, hobbies, family life, sex lives, for stuff: crappy clothes, $6 lattes (500 calories a pop), no guarantee of proper health care or pension, a real family life and a decent sex life ('cause we're too tired from the chase after all this crap). And you either participate in the tribal rituals to do this kind of crap in order to belong to the predatory tribe that gets the gold, or you are relegated to being a peon.

Unless, you can find a way to drop out and meet your needs....
or, we have a revolution in our values.

The one good thing about this down turn is that people are re-examining their values...

[No Elephants]

21. "Designer labels" are too often sewn into things that are poorly made from lousy materials, anyway.

I don't know if it is the case with Hugo Boss, but, often, the name is simply licensed.

[cap]

22. True that... and you are talking to some one who is fond of nice materials

I do like the feel on my skin of something nicely woven.

[proudohioan]

26. Thank you for posting!!!!

You know, I actually REMEMBER that commercial, and being the ignorant, cocky teenager that I was at the time thought "Well duh, what other kind of clothing IS there???" Sad to say, almost 30 years later, what clothes are actually made here, in the USA by Union workers?

And cap, you have a point; clothes DID fit better, buttons didn't fall off after wearing a blouse for 3 hours. Sad statement of the times for a crappy lifestyle trade-off.

[cap]

27. as hokey as the style appears today...

people's clothes FIT them properly...and I am talking about just ordinary folks... Just watch the commercial.

[WriteDown]

31. My cousin works on Wall Street in a mom and pop hedge fund....

Has a house, wife, kid on the way, and ski house in Maine. Probably works about 60 hours a week. Not sure he has ever bought anything from Hugo Boss, but I can check. Not sure where you're getting your assumptions from.

[cap]

38. husband works on Wall Street at a major bank

and I used to work there as a consultant. I look at what fellow Ivy League alumni are wearing... A lot depends on where you work and what you do. Private Equity Pigs lay on the bling. Back Office not really. If you are trying to move up the food chain, you play the part.

[timo]

17. ????? whats to fight????

foreign owned corp decides to close up shop, not much can be fought can it? I mean really? its a shitty deal but there is not much gonna happen.

[cap]

24. regulations on moving stuff overseas....

or to other low cost communities....

Kinda like the "Hotel California".... once you check in, you can never leave... Snark

[timo]

28. whatever

if the foreign controlled corp says, "close it up" all the unions in the world can't keep it open....I dont like the idea of any plant closings but the union lacks teeth on this one.

[cap]

29. state fees on closing down factories... you know, reimbursement for those tax breaks

just make it too expensive to leave.

[WriteDown]

30. That should be extended to people too...

Create a virtual wall around the state.

[christx30]

34. Who would that help?

If it's too expensive to live in one place, or you could not find a job where you are living but you could move somewhere else, would you want the state to say that you couldn't leave? If jobs in, say, California are drying up, but something came open in Texas, wouldn't you want the freedom to leave the state? Or would you rather people be trapped behind your "virtual wall"?

[WriteDown]

35. If you're rich....

you'd have to pay a large fine to leave the state. Maybe 50% of your wealth. Would prevent the wealthy from leaving. Maybe anyone with assets greater than 250K. You choose to leave the state and you leave with 125K of assets.

[cap]

37. it's already happening

states are clawing back the tax breaks depending on the size of the layoff... Forget where I saw the article.

They can't balance their budgets to pay for state or municipal services if tax revenues are down from too many laid off workers.

[timo]

33. fees?

I am not sure of what fees you speak?
If there are fees, the union has NO say in how much they are.
If there are fees, the corp would be stupid not to pay them, its cheaper than keeping a whole factory up and running while it loses money,
The state can't hold any corp "open" , they will do what they will do, losing money? fuck it shut it down and move south....fight all you want, stand out in front and pickett your ass off, the doors will shut, the pay checks will quit coming, the factory will go up for sale, eventually the good LORD willing, someone will buy it and start up a new business in it, I am not sure the state can get tax breaks back, thats just not a sound business practice. I would never get into a deal with tax breaks that if things didnt work out a few years down the line they would have to be repaid.
if the state tries as you say to make it to expensive to leave hugo boss america llc or inc or whatever corp name they have filed under for business here in the states will file bankruptcy and walk away and never look back, they can even come back under a new name and set up shop again.