RIP Bob Hutton

I could say, were I inclined to indulge antiquated cliches, that I knew Bob since he was knee-high to a grass-hopper.

He used to hang out around my buddy Kipling's place back when Kipling had a '66 Hemi-Charger and a pair of 396/375 Novas for sale on his front lawn out there at his place on the 24 Highway.

Bob was in his early teens and walked up to Kipling's place to catch the school bus.

It was Kipling who called me with the news today; Bob is dead.

The "hanging around" eventually led to Bob getting married off to Kipling's sister-in-law.

Several years on, of course.

Bob was into the fast cars and he was into the quality home-grown. In fact it was one of Bob's buddies who pretty much introduced my circle of accomplices to the fine art of indoor grow-ops.

If you were gonna be hanging with Bob for the day it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that there would be some quality weed involved.

But we all grew up and everything changed. Bob and I had a falling out over some Mustangs that just had to be rescued from a storage garage over in Kitchener.

Free Mustangs.

All we had to do was winch them onto a trailer and drive away.

I lassoed Bob into the mission thinking it was a no-brainer.

Didn't work out that way. The guy who owned that garage went on to start a major REIT. He also knew I could not be counted on to get a free car out of storage.

Thanks, Bob!

I remember Bob asking me, after he'd been at Hammond's a couple of years, if he should take a chance and enter their apprenticeship program. They had an opening for a millwright trainee. His other options were staying on the line or driving truck for the company.

I said, Bob, you can always drive a truck. Do the millwright thing if you have a chance and if you don't like it, you can always drive their trucks.

Bob took my counsel, got his millwright ticket, and eventually ended up as head of maintenance at the Hammond plant at Edinburgh and Speedvale.

He had a very nice run.

Godspeed, Bob!

Screwing Mexican workers is a win-win

Here's a nifty read from the CBC about Canadian manufacturers decamping to Mexico, as they've been doing ever since Lyin' Brian Mulroney lulled us into bending over for NAFTA.

Seems the big car builders are flocking to Mexico to take advantage of wage rates a quarter of what they are in Canada. And who can blame them? Those mollycoddled Canadian workers are cry-babies well known for demanding a so-called "living wage," not to mention pensions, benefits, sick pay, health and safety legislation, overtime pay, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Those hard working Mexicans are thrilled to make a quarter of the Canadian pay packet without ever imagining all that other stuff is even imaginable!

But imagine my surprise when smack-dab in the middle of a story about auto parts and car builders, we get to meet Mr. Bill Hammond of Hammond Power Solutions.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit I've met Bill a couple of times before, back when he was doing the show-and-tell leading up to the Hammond IPO, which must be close to 25 years ago. I'd been busy building up a modest but tidy position in the shares pre-IPO, buying up warrants from folks who worked there, and I was hoping to make a killing when the shares sky-rocketed after their listing.

After all, that's what had happened to Linamar, another Guelph success story.

In the event, I would have done OK in the first couple of hours of trading, but no, I had to hang on for the big kill... and it was a big kill alright...

I got killed big.

So it's interesting to meet Bill again after all these years;

Bill Hammond. whose company has been making electrical transformers in Guelph, Ont., for about a century, says Mexico has made great strides in addressing its quality problem.

"There was a time when Mexico had a reputation of building shoddy product," he says. "We're finding now that global manufacturers are more than willing to accept products coming out of Mexico because the quality levels are as good as they are out of the United States or Canada."

Hammond is among the Canadian companies to have set up shop down south, with three plants in and around Monterrey. Workers like Crisanto San Martin came to the plant with no experience eight years ago, but have slowly risen through the ranks thanks to their diligence, hard work and eagerness to move up.

"They gave me good training," San Martin says. "When I got here, I didn`t know anything, I didn`t even know what an electrical transformer was. I didn't know any of that and they told me, 'Don`t worry, don't be afraid, you will contribute your part, you will do this,'" he says.

Hammond says his Mexican workers make about 10 per cent of what corresponding workers in Canada would. Although San Martin says it's not enough to live on — his wife still has to work, he laments — he's grateful for his job, and notes that Hammond pays better than most other factories in the area.

Note that where the other manufacturers are thrilled to be paying out a quarter of a Canadian wage, Bill's got the Mexicans down to 10%! And listen to his peon Crisanto; it's not enough to live on, but he's grateful for his job! 

Then note that even though Mr. Hammond pays a quarter of what the big boys pay, it's still way more than the local employers pay.

Contrast that to the aggrieved attitude of Canadian workers!

Truly a win-win!