A 42-day strike by some 2,700 workers at Hershey confectionery production facilities in the US has come to an end after management and unions agreed terms.
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The strike had led to a virtual standstill at two unionised company plants after members of Chocolate Workers Local 464 walked out
The dispute centred on management insistence that employees contribute more towards their health care costs. The hike would see employee contributions rise from 6% to 12% in the fourth year of the proposed new contract. As the strike continued, the argument became increasingly bitter, with the company mounting a massive PR campaign in national newspapers to discredit the striking workers and unions.
In response, the union members mocked CEO and chairman Richard H. Lenny as symbolic of a company that awarded high-level management with huge bonuses while tightening the screws on shop-floor workers.
Hershey’s consistently high profits made it harder for the workers to accept less generous benefits, unions argued.
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By GlobalDataUnion negotiator Robert Oakley said he now believed the union would ratify the new contract at a meeting provisionally scheduled for tomorrow [Saturday]. “I’m very satisfied with it,” he said. “I think there’s compromise on all the issues whether it’s economic or philosophical.”
