Cheese workers win Powerball dough

[gldstwmn]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/07/pow....ap/index.html

Dozens of Sargento employees say they'll split $208.6 million

Tuesday, August 8, 2006; Posted: 10:26 a.m. EDT (14:26 GMT)


PLYMOUTH, Wisconsin (AP) -- Dozens of cheese company workers returned to their jobs Monday after they reported being among about 100 workers who won a Powerball jackpot worth $208.6 million.

Andrea Fink, 26, of Sheboygan, said she arrived early for her second shift in the afternoon at Sargento Foods to meet with the other winners. The group said it held the only winning ticket for Saturday's Powerball drawing.

"I don't know what to say. I can't believe it. It just seems unreal," said Fink, who planned to buy a house with her winnings.

Sargento Chief Executive Officer Lou Gentine said he met with most of the winners and some other employees Monday afternoon before they started work, and the gathering often burst into applause.

The ticket has been turned over to an attorney, he said, though he was not sure when it would be submitted to the lottery. The group estimates each person will receive between $500,000 and $700,000, after taxes, if they choose to take a lump sum, he said.

"To see the joy on their faces, it's just incredible," Gentine said. "We're really happy for them."

The winners are of different ages and do a variety of jobs, such as cutting and shredding cheese, loading trucks and performing maintenance, Gentine said. He said their salaries range between $30,000 and $50,000 a year.

Colleen Sumner, 51, of Crystal Lake, said she was not sure whether she would keep working at Sargento, where she has been employed for nearly 19 years.

"It's going to help how many different families. It's super. It's a lot better than one person winning," she said.

The winning ticket was sold at Ma and Pa's Grocery Express in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, along the so-called "Miracle Mile," a stretch of South Main Street where several stores sold multimillion-dollar tickets during the 1990s.

Ma and Pa's sold a winning Megabucks ticket worth $6.5 million in 1994 and has sold tickets that won $500,000, $250,000 and $100,000.

Powerball is played in 29 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

[skcin]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/07/pow....ap/index.html


Colleen Sumner, 51, of Crystal Lake, said she was not sure whether she would keep working at Sargento, where she has been employed for nearly 19 years.

Someone tell this woman that $700,000 ain't quite enough to allow her to quit her day job.

Good for them.

[David]

Originally Posted by skcin

Someone tell this woman that $700,000 ain't quite enough to allow her to quit her day job.

Good for them.

I bet the employer is sweating bullets right about now: the possibility that one hundred employees are just about to give notice.

Tough ****, too. That's the way the ball bounces. That's the way the cookie crumbles. That's a market economy. That's a free society. That's at-will employment (which both employers & employees generally adhere to).

If the employer can pay his employees $30,000 a year salary, the employees can play lotteries & gamble & win big & then give their two-week notice!

I wouldn't be surprised to hear some Republican/conservative apologists on TV get all up in arms over the possibility of all these employees giving notice all at once. The apologists would try to make the (very weak) claim that this sort of thing isn't "fair" to a company/employer. But tough **** on that. It's as fair as paying your "at-will" employees $30,000 a year. You make your bed, you lie in it, goddamnit. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I also wouldn't be surprised to start seeing more & more -- particularly smaller -- companies start setting employment rules against these big office lottery pools.

[skcin]

^ I'd be willing to bet that even if all of them gave their 2 weeks, their positions would be filled PDQ. If 100 jobs opened up at between $12 (assuming the starting wage isn't $30,000 a year) and $20 an hour here? They'd be snapped up in a jiffy.

[DavidMn]

$700,000 huh? Not bad for 100 people.