Reasons for Cement Plants Closing

[buzzi hater]

The Plant Manager is a total dumb ass. His name is Larry Hooper, he is a freaking dictator, he threatens his formen, everyday, has made some of the stupidest decisions known to man. Was promoted above his IQ level, is an arrogant prick.

[jack]

Guess hes going to be looking for a job also,so won't matter if the formen or someone Beats the Sh t out of him.
I heard the city leaders were the dumb asses that help close the plant down, by not allowing a road to a new rock site.

[HEARTLAND RETIREE]

Hooper got his job because of his daddy-in-law,
he was a lazy sob when he was hourly, and from what I hear he has turned into a self absorbed peckerhead, made his little baby boy a foreman to I guess? The other son is nothing but a dope head. He was to stupid to be a plant manager.
I also heard the company wasn't given the union boys anything? in there severance. Somebody ought to choke the sh t out of all the hoopers.

[jack]

Can any of the Union people transfer to other plants?

[Indy Citizen]

Just to rest the rumors, The plant is closing due to Corporate decision. The city has nothing to do with it. I talked to a woman from the Corporate office and she said the are downsizing due to fuel costs, etc.

[HEARTLAND RETIREE]

Well you say you spoke to a woman from corporate, it had to be Debbie Bahnick, ask your self this question. Why are you having to ask someone from an office in Pennsylvania, instead of one of the ladies that actually work at the plant? I'll tell you, they have been warned that if they make any comments to the press they will be fired, and loose there severance. That's the reason no-one except for the union guys can say anything. The corporate people are trying make the city folks believe things that aren't true.

One of the main reasons for the plant closing is the current condition of the US economy, brought on by the Bush Admin.
Another reason is piss poor decisions being made by the plant manager, he is to caught up in threating and making everyone of the foreman feel scared to stand up to him. He has a couple of lap dogs, or puppets and he micro manages them and there for can not concetrate on the things he needs to get done. Fred Redman who is his little bouncy boy, Bob Tafoya is Fred's assisstant, and Wally Snodgrass is the tenor of this posse of 4. The only thing Larry Hooper will be remembered for is his own arrogance brought down the oldest company in Independence.
Those are a few of the reasons tyhat lead to the plant closing. I've worked at the plant with all four of these stupid men, Wally only a few years, but the other 3 for many and they are all cut from the same spineless, backstabing cloth.

[office lady]

The Union guys are not being allowed to transfer, they are being taken advantage of, bad...
Those guys have worked their butts off to keep the plant running for lot's of years, without any thanks. The earlier post mentions bad decisions, you have no idea, there needs to be alot more thanks and credit to those guys. I for one will say thanks. Good luck to you all. You will be missed.

To the Union Leadership, my hats off to you. I know what you guys are going through right now and it is not fair, or just. I wish things were different.

To the post above Indy Citizen the person you spoke with at our Corporate Offices is not a very reliable source for any information that would be considered fair to our current employees, she is a person with little charactor and she has no feelings at all for anyone except corporate.

Good luck, and God Bless to you all.

[mill foreman]

I am a foreman at buzzi, and i'll give you a few reasons why i think.

Reason 1. larry hooper 2. dave mcnitt 3. fred redman

these 3 guys have ruined this plant.
hooper is a bully and won't listen to any one, one man show got the power and abuses it, has no loyality from any of us foreman except for fred redman, who has purposely sent bad cement to customers just to try to get dave mcnitt fired, because they don't like each other, fred don't like him because he's fred's boss and has only worked out here for 2-3 years, mcnitt is a dumb ass that doesn't have a clue about anything justs walks around lost.
If the plant would have had a plant manager that wasn't so caught up in his self, maybe we all still have a job.

I hope larry and fred both have very short retirements.

[RETIREE]

larry hooer would have never had his job if is wasn't for his father-in-law, larry is a dumb ass.
but i see the apple didn't fall far from the tree he gave his son a foreman's job and this is a kid that flat out stupid, the other son isn't smart enough to poor piss out of a boot. thats why he's a brain-fried dope head.

[DRC]

Larry Hooper what a prick, his style of managing is as extinct as the dinorsaur. He doesn't care about anyone at this plant except his two little precious boys. Neither one of them passed the preemployement test that was required for new hires, he promoted the little one to a supervisor, the oldest one is brain fried, I mean totally pickled. He can single handly take all the credit for this plant closing and putting all these good people out of work. If you the Hoopers(all 3) and throw in Paula Beeman you wouldn't the brains God gave a crawdad.

Fred Redman another one of the Buzzi Brain-i-acks guy this is a total asshole, he sent to several customers on purpose the bad cement to just to try to get another salaried employee fired. One of the stupidest people on God's green earth.

Wally Snodgrass the company's safety director was given his safety job so that hooper could have control over that dept. They had a safety guy from another plant that hooper had NO control over so when this guy left, hooper maded little wally, the worst mill foreman they every had, a total kiss ass, kissed hoopers ass almost as much as Redman, the safety guy and then he had a little puppet someone he could make do whatever he wanted.

[Employee]

The cement plant in Indy is operating with the oldest systems of any cement plant in the country. The reason it has lasted this long is solely because of the quality and hard work of its employees. They accomplished what others failed at long ago. It is a family I shall miss.

[DRC]

Employee you are very correct. The quality of the employees out there are second to none. If the company would have had a plant manager that had any managing skills it would have been a hard team to beat. They have kept the plant running with out any of the modern things that almost every cement plant in the country has. I will also miss this family.

[We are family]

With the exception of a few we are family, Larry Hooper, Fred Redman, Wally Snake-in-the-grass, should have been let go years ago. Fred and Wally are just little kiss asses, that had to kiss hooper's ass to keep their jobs, and are not or would not be included into this family.

Larry and Fred managed with intimidation and bulling, there will be no love lost with those two by anyone. They are both spineless pricks.

Wally was just a patsy that lied and tried to bully the new guys, but everyone knows he only got his job by kissing Hooper's ass. He was Hooper little snitch, on all of us mill foreman.

The one thing I will not miss are those stupid ass meetings in the morning where Hooper threatens to fire, cusses at us, he is just an all round S.O.B. Made his son a foreman so he could take Wally's place on snitching on the the rest of us.

[Current Member]

Union!! we have a union? All I every seen was Mike Smith looking out for himself and who ever was in his little click. He hasn't done anything out there for the members that they didn't already have in the contracts that I have been through.

[Previous emloyee]

I just want to say how sorry I am to hear that the plant is closing!!! That plant was a big part of a lot of guys life, priorities for some and to see it sit empty will be heartbreaking.
I don't think the corporate ladder knows how hard of workers most, not all, of you were and what they are doing to your families. I do think that if the city/county would've kept open that road you would still be open and I also think that they kept the road open for about 2 farmers and one I know is a vet and that is sad that you can't go down 10th street like every other farmer that lives south of Indy. Unfortunately, the city/county did make the wrong decision on this one.
Good luck to you guys!

[2nd Generation]

Growing up with my father working for the cement plant I heard the rumer every year "this might me the last year for the plant mama". My husband is now an employee of Heartland and I have heard him say the same thing for many years, so I am wondering can we really blame one man and his "posse" of 4? It seems to me that the decision to close the plant has been comming for years! Lets face it they didn't want to dump money into the plant, to get it where it needed to be, and we the families are all paying the cost. In corporate America you do what has to be done to get ahead, it's a fact. Closing the plant was just a stepping stone for them, yet it was our bread and butter.

It is sad to me to see everyone turning on each other. In troubled times like this we need to stick togeather. In the end we are all looking for jobs.

Good luck to all of you and may Gods love be with you ALL!

[unknown]

Good luck guys

[employed]

current member u are totaly wrong mike smith is a great union prez and is fighting for all of us bet u wouldnt say that to his face u chicken shit

[We are family]

To current member you are dead wrong, Mike Smith has worked his ass off for you and everyone else.
My hats off to him. I'm proud to say he was my/our Pres. Since you seem to be mad, at him, maybe you should have ask him to help you with your problem. I will also agree with employed, your a chicken shit, that won't say anything to his face. He has had several people get mad at him about different issues, and I've always known he would listen, he might not have told you what you wanted to hear, but he was always honest about it. You can't make everyone happy, but Mike works hard is still working hard on trying to get us something from a shitty company. Maybe you should have got off your ass and offered him some help.

[also member]

To current member, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!! Mike Smith did and is still taking care of "His little click" which includes about 80 of us, you included. I've worked at the plant for over 30 years and hands down his has been the best president this local has ever had. AGAIN HANDS DOWN. You are just someone with no sinse, or loyality you probably never attended meeting but would sit back and bitch. You wanted him to protect us but did nothing to help, him and then questioned the manner in which he done it. I will also agree with an earlier post you sir are a chicken shit. That doesn't even know what UNION is.