CHICAGO – Dave Tiderman wondered if the decimal point was in the wrong place when he opened his $35,000 company bonus. Jose Rojas saw his $10,000 check and thought, “That can’t be right.”
Valentin Dima watched co-workers breaking down in tears over their bonus checks and didn’t trust his emotions. He drove home first, then opened his envelope: $33,000. Year-end bonuses are rare these days. Rarer still is what the Spungen family, owners of a ball bearings company in Waukegan, Ill., about 40 miles north of Chicago, did as they sold the business. They gave out whopping thank-you bonuses.
A total of $6.6 million is being shared by just 230 employees of Waukegan-based Peer Bearing Co., with facilities in England and the United States. Amounts varied and were based on years of service.
“They treated us like extended family,” said Maria Dima, who works at Peer Bearing along with her husband, Valentin, and received a somewhat smaller check than he did. “We won the lottery.”With $100 million in sales last year, Peer recently was acquired by a Swedish company for an undisclosed amount. Danny Spungen, whose grandfather founded the company in 1941, said it was a unanimous family decision to thank employees with the bonuses. The new owners intend to operate Peer as a wholly owned subsidiary. Workers have been told that most will keep their jobs, and life at the company hasn’t changed much since the party in mid-September when the bonuses were distributed.
Sometimes loyalty works both ways.
Man, that would be so sweet to unexpectedly get $30K. Good on them!
If this is a “good” outcome, then NOT giving a bonus would be a bad outcome.
Howcome USA corporate LAW does not mandate a sharing of sales price of a company with the shareholders?
Just why would that “bad” outcome be enshrined in our laws?
This happen to me, 25 years ago. It’s how I bought my first house.
Don’t forget to put aside half -for the IRS. Uncle Sam needs his share to give to GM, Ford, Citigroup, AIG, Goldman Sachs, etc, etc…
I got a 3K bonus last year for Christmas, my first year with the company. It caught me completely off guard and convinced me that I did the right thing by going to work for a boss who appreciates his employees. If only more bosses realized what kind of moral boost profit sharing does for the employees.
#2 Bobbo:
“How come USA corporate LAW does not mandate a sharing of sales price of a company with the shareholders?”
This is like, exactly what happens when a corp is liquidated. You never see this because it doesn’t make sense to dissolve a company that makes a profit.
#6. that is correct. we don’t make things in the US anymore.
high corporate taxes and greedy union bosses prevented this from happening.
obviously, the entire story is some sort of typo.
I can pretty much bet that the Swedish company is SKF.
I bet the bosses of this place were Christians. What sickos.
#10 – Rectagon
>>I bet the bosses of this place were
>>Christians. What sickos.
The people I know name Spungen are Jews. Woopsie!!
This is a result of a family owned business. Corporations have shareholders and no moral responsibility, they reflect only one value, the bottom line. A successful CEO isn’t necessarily the one that keeps a company going and competitive, nowadays it’s much more important to show quick profits to the shareholder regardless of long term consequences and if you can get the government to bail your business out when times get tough, so much the better. Little by little, greed is becoming the only value representing the US society.
Sounds like the family was being stingy all these years. I get a 50-80k bonus every year. I would be disappointed it it was only in the 5k to 10k range.
#11 – Surnames only indicate family lines, not religious views. I’ve met many people with Jewish surnames with non-Jewish religious views. Just because you know people with the name Spungen that are Jewish, doesn’t mean that’s a Jewish surname.
Wanna bet the Swedish company is essentially buying the name and the customers of this family-owned company and plans to close down local facilities and ship all production overseas. Bet your life.
Good thing it’s a Swedish company. If they were bought by a Chinese company they would be forced to pay those huge bonuses back plus interests.
#15 – Richardbt71
You’re right, they may well not be Jews, unlike everyone else with the same surname that I’ve ever heard of. They might be Zoroastrians, they might be Sikhs, they might even be Atheists. One thing they are probably NOT, is Christians. Even if they’re “Jews for Jesus”, they’re still Jews.
#13, you’re an idiot.