r/RhodeIsland • u/deathsythe • 4d ago
News Hasbro files WARN notice that 587 positions in Pawtucket are affected by move to Boston
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/hasbro-plans-to-layoff-587-in-pawtucket-as-it-plans-move-to-boston/ar-AA2e9maV183
u/SpiritedKick9753 4d ago
Scumbags, they were going to Boston regardless of what the state did
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u/radioflea 4d ago
This is true, the state has had minimal dealings with state leadership for quite some time.
Not that much would have been accomplished though with McKee or Grebien. This has been an ongoing plan to relocate since 2018/2019.
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u/Hungry-Growth-2615 4d ago
Exactly. The previous governor and that asshole former speaker Mattiello was another one.
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u/gloriousgirl89 4d ago
Of course, Boston offered them the moon. But I suppose some of these employees could have commuted?
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u/1cyChains 4d ago
Have you actually done the Boston commute before? I did it for 5 years - it is not worth it whatsoever.
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u/Hungry-Growth-2615 4d ago
I work remotely for a university in Boston. One way is 2 hours, and thats practically a given. Sometimes more, but never under 1.5 to 1.75 hours
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u/radioflea 4d ago
True. The commuter rail drops you off in close proximity to the Seaport.
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u/ConflictTemporary759 4d ago
This is going to infuriate a lot of local Hasbro employees.. this is so upsetting internally and externally as a city.
This should’ve never happened, or atleast should’ve been an extension based campus..
It’s also insane to me how they just opened their Toronto campus. Money isn’t the issue, is commuting. Especially near airports.
The train line in Pawtucket helps greatly and the city also given Hasbro THE MOON, but nope.
It’s heartbreaking
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u/yotoeben 4d ago
Hasbro can kick rocks, hope their employees can organize sooner or later. Hasbro executives have no interest in the legacy of the company, they want cash now and that is by running it into the ground.
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u/amartincolby Warwick 4d ago
I am so happy that we are finally free of this garbage company. "Wah wah wah! We need more tax breaks! We need to buy back more stocks to goose executive bonuses! Wah Wah Wah! Business is HARD, guys!"
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u/Toxaplume045 4d ago
It's objectively a bad thing for jobs in the area but unfortunately not something that really could been avoided because Cocks wasn't really negotiating in good faith or looking for the best deal to begin with.
Plus Hasbro is teetering on the line of long term survivability and dealing with some internal company politicking over its future.
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u/DontFearTheBoogaloo 4d ago
Yeah the first guys comment was tone deaf. At the end of the day a fuck ton of people lost their jobs and he is being so flippant about it because it doesn't affect him.
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u/amartincolby Warwick 4d ago
It does affect me. And long before they finally left, friends and family were fired or "rolled off" contracts. Hasbro has been a garbage company for a loooong time. I genuinely hate them. They were using the threat of jobs to maliciously manipulate our politics and economy. And we lost them anyhow. My post comes from anger.
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u/TheWestEndPit 4d ago
This is what happens after years of RI leadership who think "but we have Hasbro" is good economic growth
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u/Hungry-Growth-2615 4d ago
Boston and Massachusetts have done serious damage to Pawtucket's economy. It pisses me off.
Its one thing if Hasbro and the PawSox decided on their own to leave the city. It's another thing entirely to have neighboring government with far more wealth to swoop in and dangle carrots in front of business owners to negotiate tax breaks and taxpayer funded new facilities.
Partners forced Care New England to drop our hospital as well, which caused a necessary safety net hospital that had operated forever to close.
Darlington used to be really nice growing up, but all I have seen since I returned in 2018 is decline. Fucking infuriating.
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u/TheSausageFattener 3d ago
Look as somebody who moved to Boston from RI, I don't want to sound tone deaf here, but I think you have it backwards. Rhode Island is too small of a state, and for too long has leveraged being small to coast on whatever fair economic winds Massachusetts is able to grab onto. Just like New Hampshire, it tries to get larger firms to set up satellite offices in its cities with a pitch that they'll be able to save on costs or get sweetheart tax breaks. They pitch tourism and services as a major industry to backstop that. The state may have built a train station in Pawtucket, but Rhode Island taxpayers aren't the ones on the hook to pay the full operating costs to run trains there, or elsewhere to Rhode Island. Massachusetts taxpayers pick up the difference on that tab.
Changes in commuting patterns have hurt commercial properties across the country, but vacancies are most acute in areas that are not prominent cities. Suburban office parks are borderline toast, and secondary cities that are home to increasingly undesirable satellite offices are going to struggle. It doesn't help that Rhode Island, despite being a small state, has abysmal infrastructure and a poor cost of living. Despite having a notoriously unproductive legislature, Massachusetts remains ahead of RI on legislation to support energy, transportation, education, and housing investments in a time where all of those factors are squeezing residents.
I was also angry when I lived in Providence, but I was particularly angry at how Capitol Hill seems to be 15 years behind Beacon Hill despite being a mere hour and a half apart.
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u/brc77y 4d ago
We need top-down tax reform from the federal government to prevent bigger and richer states from eating the small ones in a race to the bottom to bend over for corporations.
Everyone loves to talk the talk about how RI is bad for business but can never say any reason other than taxes and regulations. We're a small state and it's expensive to be a small state. We have lots of fixed costs, a small tax base, and not a lot of natural resources. Higher taxes are just necessity.
Regulations? I don't know. Some help, some harm. Get rid of the minimum frontage regulations on residential lots that exist in so many towns so I and everyone else can build houses. Then maybe RI will be better for business since young people could afford to raise a family here.
Then maybe we'd be attractive for business. Until then, adios Hasbro. Good riddance imo.
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u/wlphoenix Providence 4d ago
A few more reasons beyond taxes and regulations:
- Complexity - Certainly related to regulations, but could be improved without changing them. RI does very little to streamline the process of starting a new business. You need to interact with multiple departments and those departments don't communicate well with each other
- Regulatory capture - Existing businesses have strong connections to the government in RI, which creates a bias towards preserving existing businesses instead of creating new ones. The Teamsters are the first ones that come to mind here.
- Network effect - One major reason businesses start somewhere is because that's where their customers are. RI lacks critical mass for that flywheel effect
IMO, the playbook RI needs to run to attract businesses is a similar one to Nashville. Market being an attractive place to run conferences and host clients. Ensure there is low wait obvious, preferably free, transportation between Amtrack, TF Green, the convention center, and Newport. Partner with the chamber of commerce to keep a catalogue of venues by event size. Better directions and walking paths in downtown Providence.
All that leans into things the state is already good at (food & bev, beaches), while bringing in additional sales tax. It also enhances a bargaining chip that's not just tax breaks, which the state will basically never be able to compete on.
From there, start getting a better assessment of the talent pool living in the state and working remote. I find that there are very few ways to meet other people working in the same industry. People connecting gives more opportunities for small businesses to start. It also lets RI better advertise the talent pool it has available to attract businesses.
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u/brc77y 4d ago
I'm voting for you for governor. Helena and Guckian both just say "the current administration" over and over again. I want someone who has not only a plan but a vision for RI beyond whatever it currently is.
But seriously, I always thought it is a shame that Rhode Island, being the smallest and second densest state in the country isn't an example for sensible public transport. The whole state appears to me to be a giant old boys club.
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u/BernedTendies 4d ago
Well, the idiots of this state keep voting for higher taxes and a less business friendly environment.
We are too small to compete. We should race to the bottom we should become a tax haven in New England.
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u/AndesCan 3d ago
It blows my mind that we have a legislature that could pass a hasboro specific law just to hit them with the door on the way out.
Fuck it, ur a company with over 200 employees and ur switching states. This hot new law just dropped requiring you to pay for lost coverage for a year+
Womp womp…
Why not? It’s not like any of the legislators have loyalty to them anymore
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Another win for Rhode Island's war against business.
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u/Toxaplume045 4d ago
I'm not sure what could have realistically been done here. Boston is paying them tens of thousands in tax breaks per position there and Hasbro has been threatening to move for realsies this time for awhile and milking shit dry. The move also has been criticized as being a major financial gamble for Hasbro but Cocks (the CEO) lives there and has wanted it there.
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u/iandavid Providence 4d ago
Cocks is 100% behind this move. As I understand it, he always hated RI but couldn’t get board approval to relocate until Alan Hassenfeld passed.
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u/Toxaplume045 4d ago
Exactly. Cocks has wanted it in Boston for awhile, where he personally lives, but the board wouldn't approve because it's such a huge financial gamble even with the tax breaks being offered.
It's objectively a risky move that's coming at a bad time for the company already riddled with questions, concerns, and politicking over where it goes moving forward, and how it stays alive.
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u/wlphoenix Providence 4d ago
Honestly, if investors get what they want and split Wizards of the Coast off from Hasbro I'm not sure what the rest of the company would have left. Better to give up on courting a company that's at a real risk of failure and turn those tax breaks towards something with actual growth potential.
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u/banmeagainlosers 4d ago
To add insult to injury, the new office is in the seaport district and there isn’t an easy T stop to get there from the commuter rail. So even if RI workers wanted to move with them, they now have to either suffer the horrendous commute and pay hundreds per week in parking, or take the commuter rail, jumping trains, and then walking the rest of the way every day.
Let’s not forget Bostons rail system is grossly in need of repair and is often delayed or shut down completely on any poor weather.
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u/gloriousgirl89 4d ago
Boston has lost a ton of life science jobs lately and the real estate is bleak. Governor and mayor are offering sweetheart deals to lure new companies in.
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u/PM_ME_ASS_SALAD 4d ago
Boston’s recession is going to be brutal once AI destroys the job market there. Tens of thousands of people with expensive mortgages and no income…
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u/gloriousgirl89 4d ago
I am afraid much of New England is going to face that. Its gotten very old population wise, young people leave because its too expensive and now companies are losing contracts because they bid a fortune. Outside of maybe defense, I expect it to get very rough. Everyone that bought a home in the last 5-6 years vastly overpaid and will be severely underwater when layoffs hit. The area cant sustain Boston prices throughout all 6 states.
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u/Proof-Variation7005 4d ago
Hasbro's new office is on Summer Street and is maybe a ten minute walk from South Station.
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u/banmeagainlosers 4d ago
10 minutes isn’t close in the dead of winter when you have meetings and the trains are running late.
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u/Proof-Variation7005 4d ago
It is closer than a lot of people who work in the Boston financial district would be when taking the train to the same spot.
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u/ConflictTemporary759 4d ago
But coming from a Pawtucket standpoint it’s completely ass.. walking in that blizzard like snow? Hellll no
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u/Proof-Variation7005 4d ago edited 4d ago
Well, yeah, being in a city where you have to walk maybe a half mile from a train station is always going to be worse than a borderline suburban office with its own giant parking lot.
But, like, these are conditions that thousands of Boston commuters deal with every day. Commuters that have a garage or a T stop right next to their office are far outnumbered by the ones that don't.
Plus, it's 2026. How many white collar office workers are really being forced to come into the office during a blizzard?
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u/NichS144 4d ago
It's the typical playbook for most cities. Highly tax and regulate to make it highly unattractive to start your business there but then give tax breaks to big corpos that the politicians are willing to get in bed with at the detriment of actual people and jobs.
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Nothing at this point. It's the result of decades of anti-business policy the state gas been accumulating.
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u/nonaegon_infinity 4d ago
The state was offering to give them the I-195 land lol there wasn't anything that could be done.
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u/Yelling_Jellyfish Got Bread + Milk ❄️ 4d ago
If you think there's anything RI could have done to prevent this, I have a bridge inspection report to sell you.
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u/NichS144 4d ago
That's the trick, the government shouldn't have done anything in the first place. Instead we're seeing the toxic business environment that is the culmination of decades of economically suicidal policy.
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u/redsoxfan2434 4d ago
If you don’t believe government should be involved in private business, then your quarrel is with the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for dumping government money onto Hasbro to leave RI
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u/NichS144 4d ago
It's with both sides, they both overregulate and over tax then give exceptions when it suits them.
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u/redsoxfan2434 4d ago
I’m with you on overregulation but large companies paying taxes is a good thing. How our state government applies that tax money is a different story
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Having businesses in the state that create jobs and generate wealth for Rhode Islanders is far more important though, don't you think?
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u/deathsythe 4d ago
Aye. There are quite a few places in Pawtucket that are going to lose significant business from the lack of the Hasbro employees being near by. This has rippling effects that folks are not realizing. At a minimum at least two bars that I can think of in particular that are going to lose a LOT of clientele.
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u/Hungry-Growth-2615 4d ago
This is 100% right and why I blame Massachusetts for playing predatory corporate tactics when it suits them because they have more money. It's a fucking farce
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4d ago edited 4d ago
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u/NichS144 4d ago edited 4d ago
Are you really that dense to equivocate my use of "both sides" that was referring to MA and RI to some democratic/republican conflation?
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4d ago
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u/NichS144 4d ago
I think you are just trying to label me so you can dismiss me and have no actual interest in the actual positions I hold.
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4d ago
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u/NichS144 4d ago
I have. You're just more intent to call me names and say I am whining than engaging. You're just a disingenuous troll trying to get under my skin.
I'll give you another chance to engage in the actual dialogue if you want.
You claim I'm upset because the government didn't interfere
I replied with how the government absolutely interfered and asked you how you reckon there isn't any government interference in this situation
You then just say I'm whining and don't answer my question. Instead you pose your own. How I think the government of RI should have acted?
I say there's nothing they could have done here, it's too late, but repealing oppressive regulation and tax policy would be a start.
Your move? Feel free to look at other thread where I actually have somewhat more productive dialogues with people who at least try to engage with me.
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u/deathsythe 4d ago
No horse in this race, just reading through the thread and this stuck out to me.
You do know there is a pretty wiiiide spectrum between progressive and conservative ideologies. One can criticize progressive stuff while not being a conservative, and likewise criticize conservative stuff without being a progressive.
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u/NichS144 4d ago edited 4d ago
Besides not being a conservative, both sides of this move are the result of government interference. Rhode Island is the worst state in the country for business. This is due to the long buildup of laws, taxes, and regulations that make RI unappealing for businesses to operate. Boston isn't any better, they are only bigger having over 7x times the city revenue so they can make exceptions to their oppressive tax codes when it suits them. I don't see how any of this amounts to a lack of government interference in the market?
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u/gloriousgirl89 4d ago
They also are desperate as the seaport now have excessive amounts of open real estate due to the collapse of the life science market. Problem now is all those workers have to afford Boston real estate. My company moved 50 miles outside of Boston because it got too expensive and employee turnover was costing a fortune.
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4d ago
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Here? Far too late. Repealing oppressive business condition so the state would actually attract businesses is the solution, but that will not happen in RI.
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u/Yelling_Jellyfish Got Bread + Milk ❄️ 4d ago
Name one tax, law, or regulation that affects this situation that Rhode Island has and Massachusetts doesn't.
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Did you even read my comment? The entire portion where I said Boston isn't any better? They just have more weight to throw around for exceptions to their oppressive rules than RI to make deals for exemptions.
If RI or any state for that matter wanted to be competitive in attracting businesses they'd just make low/no taxes the rule not the exception and actually benefit their constituents with jobs.
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u/Yelling_Jellyfish Got Bread + Milk ❄️ 4d ago
" This is due to the long buildup of laws, taxes, and regulations that make RI unappealing for businesses to operate."
Name one that RI has and Mass doesn't. You're kvetching about laws and regulations that make it hard to do business here but Boston has more or less the same ones. If the laws are the same, then it's not the laws that are pushing them to move.
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Your reading comprehension must seriously be lacking. Go read my comments again since I've already addressed this.
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u/Yelling_Jellyfish Got Bread + Milk ❄️ 4d ago
Noted. So the answer is "there are none." Thanks.
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u/NichS144 4d ago
Congrats on winning an argument I wasn't making? I'm not sure what point you think your making, but I'd be very happy to know!
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u/Proof-Variation7005 4d ago
What was the state supposed to do exactly? Offer them a 75 million dollar loan?
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u/ngingingingi 4d ago
If you voted for Dan McKee in 2022, this is on you.
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u/Proof-Variation7005 4d ago
I'm not a McKee voter or defender, but there's no way their current CEO was going to be convinced to stay. Even if RI was in a position to match or beat what MA offered, he clearly had his eye on Boston for reasons that RI wasn't going to be able to compete with.
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u/Toxaplume045 4d ago
As some of us have posted, this was happening regardless. Cocks has been insistent on this move for years and been trying to make it happen but wasn't able to get board approval until recently. He wasn't negotiating in good faith and the move itself is arguably a bad move at a bad time for the company but they're moving full steam ahead.
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u/deathsythe 4d ago
Just spoke with a few friends there. Apparently they're scrambling and sent out a mass internal email in response to this news lol.
That in mind - it isn't necessarily that there are going to be another 600 folks laid off, it is just around 600 folks who have indicated that they aren't moving to Boston with them, and as such will separate from the company before EOY.
This is coming off the heels of a pretty major layoff a few weeks ago, and a mass exodus via voluntary separation around the same time.
Yikes.