Unions Kill The Twinkie

[JK/SEA]

Could they have continued negotiating the contract without taking the step to go on strike?

lets be real. The strategy is/was to break the Union. Trust me, the dogs in mgmt. in a few years will resurrect Wonder/Hostess as non-union, which will guarantee the upper class and stock holders their pound of flesh in the guise of FRN's...and instead of good paying living wages, and benefits there will be zero medical and pension plans that pay perhaps 10 bucks hr. I wouldn't work in a bakery for that. I also operated ovens, and in the summer months i recorded 110 degrees in the area. Exhaust fans were always on high mode to keep it at that temp. Go ahead, TRY and work in a bakery like that for those wages. I'd love to see one of you try. I've seen many people walk off the job because of the conditions and very hard work required. Its not for everybody.

 

[Acala]

Interstate Brands ran the company like D.C runs the country....spending on a failed plan led to the downfall. Wonderbread/Hostess spent MILLIONS AND MILLIONS on high tech. high speed equipment that engineers couldn't figure out, leading to loss of contracts with companies like COSTCO. As a dough mixer i was working 12, 16, and a few times 24 hour shifts to help get my plant up and running along side my foremans and supervisors. Oven breakdowns, photo eye failures, conveyor breakage, and on and on and on. Lots of the doughs i made went to garbage. All the product in the non running ovens burned... garbage. It was a nightmare in my plant which finally closed. 40 million to build a plant now gone. Jobs gone. You gonna blame the Union?...gtfo.

This also went on in new plants in Nevada, and New England. The older plants where i started were making money. Everyone happy. Good hard working jobs went pffft....when the new plants closed.

The corporate business form in this country is a disaster. It has taken top-down absentee management to an absurd level. Dick holes like Mitt Romney waltz in, buy up a company, strip it down, cook the books to make it look profitable, and then roll it over without ever having been to a plant or seen a worker.

The result of the mega-corporatization of the USA has been a loss of loyalty to customers, loyalty to employees, concern for the community, and perhaps most tragically, a complete loss of interest in the LONG term operation of the business. Instead of trying to maximize profits in the long term by giving the consumer MORE for their money, they have focused their efforts on producing a good quarterly report by giving consumers LESS for their money, which is exactly contrary to the sage advice of Henry Ford at the outset of the industrial revolution. It is all about making the next quarterly report look good, selling the company or changing jobs, and sticking someone else with the hollowed-out shell of the business that once was.

The government-created corporate business form should be taxed to death.

That having been said, unions are just another special interest group trying to use force to get a place at the trough at the expense of their countrymen and it suits me fine to see them get busted.

 

[angelatc]

DH and I were just saying that! And just like with Government Motors bailout, he'll screw the secured creditors in favor of the unions. Because contract law is what Obama says it is.

But he's not a socialist. That's what they keep telling me.

 

[angelatc]

That having been said, unions are just another special interest group trying to use force to get a place at the trough at the expense of their countrymen and it suits me fine to see them get busted.

I have no problem with seeing them go down together, that's for sure.

 

[EBounding]

Twinkies aren't going away. The brand still has value. The recipes, equipment, etc aren't going to vanish in liquidation, the title will just change. Someone else will just make them.

 

[pcosmar]

Could they have continued negotiating the contract without taking the step to go on strike?

Or they could just go to work and collect a paycheck..
Good luck finding another job.

 

[JK/SEA]

DH and I were just saying that! And just like with Government Motors bailout, he'll screw the secured creditors in favor of the unions. Because contract law is what Obama says it is.

lets clarify here that the Bakers Union is a private union, not public.

 

[AuH20]

Or they could just go to work and collect a paycheck..
Good luck finding another job.

Meanwhile, union management will re-emerge in another location after sending their "troops" on a suicide mission.

 

[JK/SEA]

Or they could just go to work and collect a paycheck..
Good luck finding another job.

you ever work in a high speed production bakery?

 

[Lucille]

But he's not a socialist. That's what they keep telling me.

He's a Fascialist!

The hallmark of the Obama administration's economic policy thus far is a forced "partnerships" with dozens of large banks along with General Motors and Chrysler. It is threatening hundreds of other "partnerships" in the name of environmental regulation. And that's just in the first five months. Mussolini would be envious.

Italian fascism created one gigantic bailout economy. Italian social critic Gaetano Salvemini wrote in his 1936 book, Under the Axe of Fascism, that "It is the state, i.e., the taxpayer, who has become responsible to private enterprise. In Fascist Italy the state pays for the blunders of private enterprise." "Profit remained to private initiative," Salvemini wrote, but "the government added the losses to the taxpayers' burden. Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social." Sound familiar?
[...]
Obama promises the worst of all economic worlds: A vast expansion of the welfare state form of socialism, as defined by Hayek, along with a heavy dose of old-fashioned, early twentieth-century, Stalinist socialism with the nationalization of banks, automobile companies, the health care industries, and whatever else he can get away with. The Mussolini-like cult of personality that has developed around him will facilitate this disastrous path to national economic suicide.

 

[JK/SEA]

Meanwhile, union management re-emerges in another location after sending their "troops" on a suicide mission.

not suicide. Murder by the owners.

 

[andrew1229649]

I don't understand worker unions. If I was the guy calling the shots I would tell the workers that if they do not show up for work they are fired. Then I would hire new people. Could someone explain why they don't do that?

 

[AuH20]

not suicide. Murder by the owners.

Self-imposed termination of their employment. The economy is crumbling in nearly every sector and the union is sacrificing these men's livelihoods for the sake of their little game. There is no leverage. And I suppose bankrupcty court will further damage the legacy obligations of Hostess to it's employees. And all to prove a point. Dumb. Dumb. Playing a high stakes game of poker with no cards.

 

[JK/SEA]

I don't understand worker unions. If I was the guy calling the shots I would tell the workers that if they do not show up for work they are fired. Then I would hire new people. Could someone explain why they don't do that?

yeah...there called CONTRACTS. Apparently some Ron Paul supporters in here don't like them.

 

[VIDEODROME]

lets be real. The strategy is/was to break the Union. Trust me, the dogs in mgmt. in a few years will resurrect Wonder/Hostess as non-union, which will guarantee the upper class and stock holders their pound of flesh in the guise of FRN's...and instead of good paying living wages, and benefits there will be zero medical and pension plans that pay perhaps 10 bucks hr.

I've picked up from Wonder Bread or Nestle or Consolidated Biscuit as a trucker. Some baking companies do seem kind of chaotic, though Consolidated Biscuit seemed like a steady operation.


I guess one hopes that the strike is always the last thing people resort to, but frankly I can believe poor management, the lousy economy, or even Michelle Obama demonizing sweet treats contributed as well.

 

[CaptUSA]

JK, it certainly does sound like bad management here. I don't know enough about the circumstances to interject, but would this company have folded regardless of the union? Is that what you're saying?

If that's the case, then maybe the union bosses are a useful tool to place blame.

But it seems from the evidence, that the company could have survived if they could have gotten their labor finances in order. The employees would have taken a huge hit and they'd be pissed at management, but they'd still be working. At least in that scenario, they could look for a job at a better company before losing theirs.

 

[JK/SEA]

Self-imposed termination of their employment. The economy is crumbling in nearly every sector and the union is sacrificing these men's livelihoods for the sake of their little game. There is no leverage. And I suppose bankrupcty court will further damage the legacy obligations of Hostess to it's employees. And all to prove a point. Dumb. Dumb. Playing a high stakes game of poker with no cards.

as i have already stated. This is the owners looking for an excuse to shed the union diverting the truth of the fact that owners and management FUCKED up and in turn now want to FUCK the hard workers in the union. Thats the truth some of you can't grasp.

 

[AuH20]

as i have already stated. This is the owners looking for an excuse to shed the union diverting the truth of the fact that owners and management FUCKED up and in turn now want to FUCK the hard workers in the union. Thats the truth some of you can't grasp.

I've already acknowledged as much. Mismanagement led to this fragile state. But now the union wants to sacrifice these jobs that they currently control the fate of. Does that strike you as particularly wise, given the dire economic realities??? Secondly, their long-term benefits could be theoretically cut in bankruptcy court. Do you not understand that this move is incredibly short-sighted??? It's lose-lose.

 

[Lucille]

lets clarify here that the Bakers Union is a private union, not public.

The Teamsters are blaming management and the Baker's union.

The Teamsters union, which represents 6,700 Hostess workers, issued a statement blaming mismanagement by Hostess executives for the company's problems. But it also was critical of the decision of Bakers' union, although it did not identify the union by name.

"Unfortunately, the company's operating and financial problems were so severe that it required steep concessions from a variety of stakeholders but not all stakeholders were willing to be constructive," said Ken Hall, the Teamsters' Secretary-Treasurer. "Teamster Hostess members, based on the facts and advice from respected restructuring advisors, understood what was at stake and voted to protect all jobs at Hostess."
[...]
The Bakers' union has made several statements earlier in the week saying management is to blame for the condition of the company, not the strike. It did not respond to numerous requests for comment Friday.

The new contract cut salaries across the company by 8% in the first year of the five-year agreement. Salaries were then scheduled to bump up 3% in the next three years and 1% in the final year.

Hostess also reduced its pension obligations and its contribution to the employees' health care plan. In exchange, the company offered concessions, including a 25% equity stake for workers and the inclusion of two union representatives on an eight-member board of directors.

Do you work for Hostess? We want to hear from you. E-mail us and your story might be included in our coverage.

 

[angelatc]

as i have already stated. This is the owners looking for an excuse to shed the union diverting the truth of the fact that owners and management FUCKED up and in turn now want to FUCK the hard workers in the union. Thats the truth some of you can't grasp.

Sure, but apparently part of the mismanagement involved unfunded pensions, which are union. No company ever got in trouble over an unfunded 401(k). But according to the chart, Hostess had about 50 401(k) plans. That's unreal.