Rein in Private Equity Before It Destroys More Jobs goodmenproject.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from goodmenproject.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Corporate greed
This spring, 166 workers in Janesville, Wisconsin awoke to a nightmare.
OpenGate Capital, the private equity firm that owns their employer, Hufcor, announced it was moving their plant out of Janesville – taking those workers’ jobs and livelihoods with it. It’s the biggest business closure in Janesville since the Great Recession.
This isn’t just another story about corporate globalization or pandemic upheaval. It’s a story about predatory private equity run amok.
In too many cases with private equity, big firms acquire businesses and squeeze them for cash, routinely causing bankruptcies. OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles firm that amassed $5 billion in revenue during its first decade in business, has run exactly that playbook in Janesville since acquiring Hufcor in 2017.
McCartin: Rein in private equity before it destroys more jobs—like those at Hufcor gazettextra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettextra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last modified on Sun 18 Jul 2021 03.01 EDT
For most of her 36 years at the Hufcor factory in Janesville, Wisconsin, Kathy Pawluk loved working there, at least until a private-equity firm took over four years ago. There were Christmas parties and summer picnics, and workers could listen to the radio as they built accordion-style room partitions for convention centers and hotel ballrooms.
âThey treated people like they were family, not a number,â said Pawluk, 62. âWe had the best health benefits. We had HR people who really cared about us.â
But Pawluk said things deteriorated soon after OpenGate Capital acquired Hufcor, a family-owned company founded in Janesville 120 years ago. âThey basically told us âWe donât want to get to know youâ in so many words,â Pawluk said.
Private-Equity Vampires Run Into a Wall of Worker Resistance progressive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from progressive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.