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This brought a smile, my father was a sales manager for Morton Salt. Growing up our family was flooded with gear featuring that little girl and her umbrella.
by rmason 4y ago
This brought a smile, my father was a sales manager for Morton Salt. Growing up our family was flooded with gear featuring that little girl and her umbrella. As a kid I wanted no part of the brand merchandise. The single item that I used was a metal wastebasket my Dad gave me for my dorm room. Still have it decades later, it's a reminder of my family's history.
Morton Salt was a great employer until it wasn't. A young president decided to fire all the employees over 55. He reasoned they were too expensive and it would make room for younger employees that cost less and it would increase earnings. Raising the stock price would increase his compensation.
The young president was gone in a year after the stock collapsed. The company has been sold four or five times since and has gone from the industry leader to an also ran. My Dad was a few years away from retirement but serendipity reigned and he got another job and did OK.
- anchochilis 4y agoAbout what year did this take place? It sounds like the employees would have had a solid basis for an age discrimination lawsuit.
- rmason 4y agoIt was in the mid-seventies. Some employees did sue, it took ten years and they didn't receive much. The lawyer did OK though ;<(. My father chose not to participate. The Congress passed an age discrimination law in 1967 but at the last minute it was significantly weakened by lobbyists. The law was updated in 1986 and that's when the gates opened to people suing and getting sizeable awards.
- gaws 4y ago> A young president decided to fire all the employees over 55. He reasoned they were too expensive and it would make room for younger employees that cost less and it would increase earnings. Raising the stock price would increase his compensation. History loves to repeat itself.