Hormel Foods - a highly profitable corporation on Wall Street

[MN TN]

And this is how they make their money:
https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1131

I decided to do some research on this company to find out why they are so profitable.
So I found this article. They have some really cruel, sick people working in slaughter houses.
WARNING: This article is very upsetting to me but people still need to know about it.

[Cool Logic]

1. I didn't realize that Wall Street was in Minnesota...

Hormel Foods Corporation
Consumer Response
1 Hormel Pl.
Austin, MN 55912
1-800-523-4635

[Omaha Steve]

4. The stock is publicly traded on Wall St.

Hormel Foods Corporation Common (NYSE: HRL )

Last Trade: 28.17

Hormel pays it's workers less with fewer benefits now than it did before the Hormel strike in 1985.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormel

1985 strike

In August 1985, Hormel workers went on strike at the Hormel headquarters in Austin, Minnesota. In the early 1980s, recession impacted several meatpacking companies, increasing competition which led smaller and less-efficient companies to go out of business. In an effort to keep plants from closing, many instituted wage cuts. Wilson Food Company declared bankruptcy in 1983, allowing them to cut wages from $10.69 to $6.50 and significantly reduce benefits. Hormel Foods had avoided such drastic action, but by 1985, pressure to stay competitive remained.<3> Workers had already labored under a wage freeze and dangerous working conditions, leading to many cases of repetitive strain injury. When management demanded a 23% wage cut from the workers they decided to begin the strike.<4> It became one of the longest strikes of the 1980s. The strike began with the sanction of the Local of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, P-9. The local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union P-9 led the strike, but was not supported by their parent union. The strike gained national attention and led to a widely publicized boycott of Hormel products.

After six months, a significant number of strikebreakers crossed the picket line, provoking riots in Austin. On January 21, 1986, the Governor of Minnesota, Rudy Perpich, called in the National Guard to protect the strikebreakers. This brought protests against the governor, and the National Guard withdrew from Austin. The action had a greater effect on the UFCW international, which ousted the local P-9.

The strike ended in June 1986, after lasting 10 months. Over 700 of the workers did not return to their jobs, refusing to cross the picket line. In solidarity with those workers, the boycott of Hormel products continued for some time. Ultimately, however, the company did succeed in hiring new workers at significantly lower wages.

The strike was chronicled in the film American Dream, which won the Academy Award for best documentary in 1990. A song about the strike, entitled "P-9" (link to music video of song)

, was written by Dave Pirner of the Minneapolis band, Soul Asylum. The song can be found on their 1989 album, Clam Dip & Other Delights.

The strike has also had a Harvard Business School Case written based on it (with assumed names), called "Adam Baxter Co./Local 190" which features multiple rounds of negotiations between unions and management.<5>

[ixion]

2. Yeah, pretty much ANY large meat producer is cruel and inhumane

in my opinion, even many of the so-called 'free range' producers.

For example, the large 'cage free' egg producers look pretty much like their not cage free counter parts.

Why? Because 'cage free' regulations specify that chickens only need one-and-a-half square feet of space to be considered 'cage free'.

This is the type of corporate/government corruption and collusion that the Occupy movement is fighting against.

[MN TN]

6. Factory farms much crueler than the family farms years ago

And chickens have become the most abused animals on the planet.

[ixion]

8. Yep, without question

that's why I support a return to regional family farming, and the end of Big Ag. Corporatized agriculture is killing us, and destroying the food supply.

[pintobean]

3. and they are spammers

[madokie]

5. Please not the spam

Fried until golden in butter smothered in onions with a touch of garlic and you've got yourself one hell of a sandwich in the making.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. I'd say the cruel, sick people are in the boardroom

Workers, slaughterhouse or otherwise, rarely set the standards and methods, you know. So how odd to blame those who are doing what they must for a paycheck, as opposed to those who tell them what they must do for that paycheck.

[MN TN]

11. Yep - anything for profits and they are fully responsible

Stock holders also liable.

[white_wolf]

9. Maybe we should all buy kosher or Hala

Don't Jews and Muslims have strict guidelines on how they have to treat the animals? Then, again they do come from centuries old religious texts so they probably aren't much better...

[orwell]

10. I used to work for a meat packer...

...turned me into a vegetarian.

If people saw what went on in a slaughterhouse they would have second thoughts about eating meat.

If you are going to eat meat, eat animals that are humanely raised and slaughtered...or hunt/fish for it and do the deed yourself.

And take my word for it...NEVER EAT A HOT DOG!

[RZM]

12. Plenty of money from the Hormel fortunue has also been used to fund GLBT issues/activism

James Hormel is the grandson of George Hormel, who founded the company. You might remember back in 1999 that he became the first openly gay man to represent the US as ambassador and his appointment was opposed by notable Senate Republicans (including John Ashcroft - this came up again a few years later when he was tapped for Attorney General). If you remember that flap, it was kind of funny because I don't think Clinton appointed the man in order to make history. He was made ambassador to Luxembourg, which seems like the kind of post you rewards somebody with for years of political donations. Interestingly Hormel came out of the closet late in life - he was married for a long time and had five kids.

I actually met the guy while he was ambassador to Luxembourg. I was in a study abroad program there at there at the time and I attended a dinner for our group of students with the ambassador. Not that it's relevant, but I thought I would mention it :)

Anyway, Hormel is also a member of a group of wealthy GLBT men informally dubbed the 'Gay Mafia.' These men have all used chunks of their considerable fortunes to aggressively support politicians who champion gay rights and oppose those who are fiercely against gay rights. Often their reach goes all the way to contests in state legislatures, since important GLBT battles are fought at that level.

Here's an article on the 'Gay Mafia' if you're interested.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1855344,00.html

This doesn't change anything people are writing about in this thread, but I thought it should be mentioned.