November 28th / 30th, 2008
"Happy Friggin’ Thanksgiving Hanesbrands"
Every time Hanesbrands CEO Richard Noll speaks to the media, it’s like
listening to a broken record. Somehow, it’s always someone else who’s to blame
for his having to lay off more people. It’s the government, or it’s the
market conditions, or it’s the global economy. We’ve heard it all before
from Mr. Scrooge. Last year just before the holidays, Noll announced
elimination of subsidized medical benefits for retirees. Now, just in time for
Thanksgiving, he’s laying off 210 more people, and plans to close HBI’s China
Grove plant by Christmas. That brings Noll’s two-year total to nearly 14,000
people whose jobs have been sent to foreign countries, where he can pay
desperate folks a dollar a day to make undies which he can then ship back into this
country, and sell at increased prices to the employees he’s just laid off.
It’s getting so bad that Americans won’t be able to afford underwear, just
like the poor people who are making it overseas.
Of course, none of this affects Mr. Richard Moneybags who makes $8 million
a year. It also doesn’t affect his board members who could give a rat’s
ass that a once-proud American company is now almost totally staffed by
foreigners, not because of global economics, but because of local greed.
Oh sure, I’ve heard from a few scared public figures who suck up to Noll so
they can get a few bucks for their organization. They say, “Jim, stop
criticizing Hanesbrands or else they might shut down all of their plants in NC.”
Hey you mice among men, wake the f**& up ! He’s pretty much already done
that anyway, so what’s the threat? Numbers don’t lie. At the time of the
spinoff from Sara Lee in 2006, HBI employed only 350 people in Asia. By the end
of this year, that number will be 6,000.
So what can we do except whine and complain about the destruction and havoc
that Noll continues to wreak? Plenty.
First of all, don’t buy anything with a Hanesbrands label. That includes
not buying HBI t-shirts at Disney World. A nationwide boycott, including by Michael
Jordan, could actually bring Noll to his knees and force the board to revamp
management.
Second, on the local level we need for Winston-Salem City Council and the
Forsyth County Board of Aldermen to grow a pair, and issue a joint resolution,
censuring Noll and his board for irresponsible behavior and their total
disregard for American workers. Further, the resolution should call on HBI to
bring back the jobs Noll has eliminated. This would be a purely symbolic, non-binding resolution,
but it would give the federal government and the national
media some public relations ammunition for reform.
Third, we need new regulations from the Obama administration
which would clearly define the parameters of who qualifies as an American
corporation. For example, in order to be incorporated in the United States, we
should require a company to employ 90% of its workforce in America.
Further, if a company should fail to meet the new requirement, then the CEO and his
Board must headquarter and incorporate in the country in which the most
employees reside. I’m just guessing now, but I doubt that Richie Rich and his
greedy Board of Directors are ready to move to China or Indonesia.
Fourth, every person laid off from HBI since 2006 can no longer receive
monies or retraining under the Federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. Instead,
Hanesbrands will have to pay for those benefits and reimburse the government
retroactively for monies we’ve spent helping former HBI employees to
relocate.
Fifth, Mr. Obama must make good on his promise to deny tax breaks of any
kind to any corporation who ships jobs overseas. But Mr. “Change We Need”
must go one better than that. President Obama should sign an executive order
forcing companies like HBI to reinstate full pension and health benefits to
every person they’ve laid off over the past two years.
I am already hearing from lots of Hanesbrands folks who are appreciative
that someone is still trying to hold Noll’s feet to the fire. Now, we just
need for a few lawmakers to get with the program, and start the ball rolling on
some of my recommendations.
Some of us will be celebrating the holidays as usual. But for many others,
there’s not much about which they can give thanks except their good health,
which I hope remains good, because Richard Noll has cheated them out of
health insurance.
The era of unchecked greed has been left unchecked for far too long in this
country, and I am cautiously hopeful that the new administration (on both the
state and federal levels) will do to avaricious CEOs what they’ve been doing
to their employees.
In the meantime, let’s do our best to try and enjoy this Thanksgiving, and
look forward to the day when turkeys like Richard Noll get what’s coming to
them…a pink slip on a platter.
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