Local Leaders Confident Heinz Will Stay In Pittsburgh, Prosper
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- How will the new mega-company, formed by the merger of Heinz and Kraft Foods, affect our region?
Even though Heinz will take a controlling share, most folks passing by the downtown headquarters feared Pittsburgh would get the short end of the deal.
"I'm concerned about losing jobs here in the city," said Dave Brosky, of Scott Township. "I think anytime you have these global markets, they really don't care about local interests."
But our civic leaders say those fears are overblown.
"There's a commitment to the Heinz Corporation to remain in Pittsburgh. The addition Kraft has the potential to bring more jobs to Pittsburgh," said Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.
Heinz is as Pittsburgh as the ketchup it sells.
The iconic company has its stamp just about everywhere you look from Heinz Field to Heinz Hall to the John Heinz History Center to the North Side plant bearing its name.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says Heinz is entrenched, committed and poised for growth here, rather than Kraft's hometown of Chicago.
"The fact that Pittsburgh is such a competitive place to do business," Fitzgerald said. "We have good tax structure, we have a lot of talent, there's a pipeline of folks that can work here, and you can afford to hire people here at less costs than you can in places like Chicago or New York."
As an example Fitzgerald cites the merger between Mellon Bank and the Bank of New York to create BNY Mellon.
"We were concerned that those jobs would move to New York, but what Bank of New York Mellon found out is that Pittsburgh is a great place to do business and they've actually added more jobs in Downtown Pittsburgh," Fitzgerald said.
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