Jun 24, 2008 6:01 pm US/Eastern
Opa-Locka Workers Given Company "Stimulus" Checks
OPA-LOCKA (CBS4) ―
-
-
Worker At Earth Friendly Products
CBS
A South Florida company that makes eco-friendly products is now going green in a way that helps its employees. The green they're now focusing on is money, and they're giving it to their employees to try and help out in these tough times.
Workers at
Earth Friendly Products in Opa-Locka are in the green business. EFP manufactures environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, but employees had never seen so much green until last week when they opened up their paychecks.
One employee told
CBS4 Reporter Ileana Varela, "Very surprised, very surprised." "Gee whiz, what was this?"
Inside was a bonus - an extra week's pay - to help employees weather the current economic crisis.
"We appreciate a lot what our president did for us; a very nice incentive for us," said General Manager Juan Ramirez.
He's was talking about company president John Vlahakis, who called the bonus the "EFP" stimulus check - not to be confused with the federal government's tax rebate stimulus checks.
Grateful employees said with gas and food prices skyrocketing the bonuses couldn't have come at a better time. And they took no time in putting the extra money to good use.
"I invested it in one month of car payments," said office manager Zulena Navarro.
"Groceries - I had an empty refrigerator. I was almost eating air," said Maintenance Supervisor Miguel Rios.
"It was like a miracle sent from God," said chief electrician Michael Morales.
The company only has 16 employees in South Florida, but 200 nationwide. It spent about $120,000 in bonuses. At a time when green is in, business is good at EFP, and company officials felt it was the right thing to do - to give back to the employees.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Zoo Babies: Cuteness Unleashed
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
