Ricky Morgan

Review of Hudson Products Corporation

8 boys started work at Smithco Engineering Inc. de...

8 boys started work at Smithco Engineering Inc. decades ago when they were just kids. After remaining loyal to the company, who sold out to Hudson Products, Inc. back in 2007, they recently got word of the facility closing shop sometime by mid 2017. The current labor contract that has around 1.5 years left before expiration, negotiated by the local steel workers union, failed to include wording that would provide these workers with the protection and income equal to the remainder of that contract in the event of a closure. In addition, Hudson Products, Inc. at this time and with only a few short months left before the facility closes, has not offered any form of severance. What this means is that the 8 workers who have put in decades of loyal service to the company, thirty to forty plus years, are now being forced into an early retirement with no compensation. Since they are not of retirement age they will have a huge gap of no income between the shop closing and retirement age. They will be forced to take an early retirement at age 62 only drawing half the normal social security pay due to not being FULL retirement age. Currently these guys are of average 60 years of age and we all know they cannot just walk into another job tomorrow like a young man can. These men have families, mortgages, car payments and other debt just like everyone else, but now will have no way to cover these expenses and their homes and transportation are at risk of being lost forever. They will also lose their healthcare coverage. Shame on you Hudson Products and the former owner of Smithco for not taking care of these guys. They have made you very wealthy. I would definitely NOT do any sort of business with this company. If this is how they treat their loyal employees I can just imagine how they treat their customers. Smh