The reason for the planed factory closure is stated clearly by the management. They simply wish to hire workers at a lower pay, pay less taxes, and make more money. The fact that workers and their families will be hurt in the process is nothing more then an unfortunate afterthought. As always, the so called free market (capitalism) always puts profits before everything else. They care little for the people who actually do the work or produce the products that they sell. They simply get rich off of the workers. The decision to shift production to a low-wage country comes as no surprise. Many Canadian companies have done so already; Hershey is simply following suit. This is the capitalism of the 21st century. This is what is meant by the free market, globalization, and “the need to be competitive”, which the government and business leaders constantly tout.
The planed closure of the Hershey factory is nothing short of a crime. The workers of this factory, who have worked hard and make Hershey the success that it is, are simply going to be dismissed like a broken down machine that no longer fulfils its purpose. Not only do the workers get cheated out of the wealth they create, but they get sold down the river as soon as the bosses find workers in another country that they can exploit even more. Workers in Mexico, where the new jobs will be created, are paid and treated very poorly – normally living in impoverished conditions and making about a dollar an hour.
We must fight back against this closure and against all other closures, pay cuts, forced overtime, and other measures that seek to attack our living standards. We need to organize our workplaces and take action. Workers must say, “If they lower our wages, we go on strike.” If they close the factories, we, the true owners, will occupy them. Secondly, we need to mobilize politically. Any victories that we win on the shop floor can easily be taken away by the capitalist Parliament. We need to elect a government that will support the demands of working people. This means getting involved in the NDP, the party that is linked to the unions, and make them represent the will of working people. We need to confront the agenda of capitalism with the only clear alternative – socialism.
