I see people here mention something called HIPAC. Apparently there are dues or contributions that are expected from employees for this. Is this some sort of a club? What are employees getting by paying for it?
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I was at at "leadership development coaching" once where the CIO spent about half the session complaining about the low HIPAC contribution rate and what to do about it.
Pathetic
The HIPAC money goes to all parties and to incumbents. So at times they give to right wing racist fascists and to Bernie Bro types. The recipient is the legislator where a Honeywell plant is located. They do not give to president/veeo but they do give at the DNC and RNC level.
The power of incumbency is toxic. The longer a politician is in office, the more power they have and hence the more ability to do HON’s bidding.
Money going to incumbents hurts the chances of fresh ideas. Makes opposition difficult.
HON also throws local parties for politicians—fundraisers. They sent a weekly email before COVID detailing who they gave money to.
HON was the largest corporate PAC back pre COVID rif.
I was an active HIPAC donor for years. I did the charity match and deliberately picked ultra liberal orgs that did stuff like advocate against offshoring.
Eventually I dropped my contribution to $2 a paycheck. VP called. I said my budget was negatively impacted by the MIP being halved at the time.
I saw no job benefit. I thought that it might help, but it didn’t.
I also was in a couple of lobbying meetings. Mostly they were asking a congressman to work on removing export license restrictions so we could ship parts to China more easily. And they asked for things concerning skilled worker visas.
It's a con to convince you to give Honeywell money so they can buy off politicians to give Honeywell more business or let them send jobs overseas. Because otherwise they'd have to pay for their politicians with corporate profits.
Even the name is offensive.
Honeywell International….
“International” interests giving money to for a national politicians. Where money goes corruption is not far behind.
The idea that something is common or uncommon has no bearing on wether something is ethical or socially acceptable. To compare this to other situations is also meaningless because the typical scenario is that you are willingly paying for a known and useful outcome.
In the case with HIPAC we are being coerced into paying for a dark money laundering machine where the end result of this money is unclear. If history is any guide however it is probably being used to secure the life and luxury of those in power at the expense of everyone else...
@1bww It may be kind of strange but it's not at all uncommon. Most corporations, unions, special interest groups, non profit orgs, etc have PACs.
If you pay union dues or contribute to a fraternal organization you are without a doubt funding a PAC.
Honeywell International Political Action Committee
Thank you for the summary. This is all so weird that I don't really have any words for it. When people make these contributions do they have any idea what that political money is being used for?
Ok PACs are legal
What HON does with HiPAC is not legal
It is not legal to coerce people to donate to a political action committee. HON dies this and measures director level and above on their peoples participation. And they actively force execs to make calls to solicit donations saying outright it is ok if it is not your direct report. Just make sure the person reaching out is senior enough so they understand this is not an “ask” it is compulsory HON is a bad actor and needs to be investigated. Don’t donate to HiPAC. It may affect your career(and that’s why they need to be investigated) but you should be finding a way out of that “connected” gulag - run
@1dlk+1gBXNV2f
Good summary. In a nut shell HIPAC should be illegal. My VP once told me if I didn't give to HIPAC I was stealing from the company. These are the same people who get stock options/retention bonuses to spew this garbage.
It's not just HW that does this but.... HW is one of the best at it.
It's a bribe!
Hipac is a function of us government process called “political action committees”. It is a way to launder large amounts of money so corporations can have corrupt influence on US government. Hipac funnels employee money to people that the Honeywell executives are friends with or have side business deals with waiting for them on retirement.
In return for employees giving … Honeywell donates an equal amount to the charity of the employees choice… they are completely open about this arrangement being nothing more than money laundering. The employee donates to political goals so the laws are skirted.
It is routine for Honeywell senior executives to make personal calls to employees to encourage participation. Very difficult for an e1 to ignore a call from the president of aerospace. This is especially true for naturalized Asian folks whose culture demands compliance with that type of pressure.
Scummy and should be illegal.
You may safely ignore or suck up and give. Some poor management person gets roped into that soliciting job each season.