Globalization Has a Hard Chocolate Shell

In a "global supply-chain transformation," Hershey will slash its domestic workforce and build a plant in Mexico. The chocolate giant projects savings of tens of millions of dollars a year, but the numbers don't mean much in Oakdale, Calif., where 575 employees will be our of their jobs by year's end. The LA Times pays a visit.

Hershey cited high dairy and sugar prices and cheap Mexican labor (one-tenth as expensive as American) in announcing the moves. Meanwhile, protesters have been picketing the factory in Oakdale, three hours east of the Bay Area, condemning the outsourcing as untrue to the vision of founder Milton Hershey. "It has to come down to greed," says one resident. (More Hershey stories.)