What's Really Wrong at Hillshire?

Taking, but no giving? Everything in life is give and take. Next to family dynamics, nowhere is that more true than in the workplace. You work over 30 minutes without pay? No problem, but there shouldn’t be a problem if you take home that five cent trash bag in a pinch. Happy employees make good employees.

What about another type of give and take? What happens if a company uses up all its assets (take) and doesn’t replace them (give)? Remember Union Carbide? At one time that chemical giant had a huge plant in Muscle Shoals. When it left the area, it cited old equipment too far gone to repair. We’re sure there have been many industries in the Shoals that have gone down that path in the past, but now we have another name to add to the list.

Hillshire Farms, a company that often couldn’t correctly pronounce its own name, will be leaving Florence in nine months. We predict a smaller company will then purchase this “outdated” plant, rename it, and offer much lower wages. Sad, but a fact of economic life.

Do you work in a manufacturing plant? If you do, just how old or outdated is the equipment that surrounds you each day? If no one is maintaining it or replacing it, you would do well to have your resume’ ready.

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We have to wonder why safety concerns have been cited at Hillshire Farms. Has OSHA visited recently? If so, perhaps that visit precipitated this unexpected closure.

Shoalanda