Posted on 11/22/2012 4:15:23 AM PST by tobyhill
After several years of costly concessions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) authorized a walk-out earlier this month after Hostess received bankruptcy court approval to implement a wage cut that was not included in its contract.
With operations stalled, the company that makes Twinkies and other famous U.S. brands said last week that liquidating its business was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash. It won court approval on Wednesday to start winding down in a process expected to claim 15,000 jobs immediately and over 3,000 more after about four months.
Interviews with more than a dozen workers showed there was little sign of regret from employees who voted for the strike. They said they would rather lose their jobs than put up with lower wages and poorer benefits.
"They're just taking from us," said Kenneth Johnson, 46, of Missouri. He said he earned roughly $35,000 with overtime last year, down from about $45,000 five years ago.
"I really can't afford to not be working, but this is not worth it. I'd rather go work somewhere else or draw unemployment," said Johnson, a worker at Hostess for 23 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The guy who prefers unemployment....Bet he has a wife with a good job....or living with mommy and daddy...or a girlfriend....or whatever.
“Ratify the contract, then go find a job with better pay and benefits while still working. Oops too late for that.”
Too late? That’s for sure, but it was a novel idea while it lasted. I don’t think the unions and this regime are interested in the “concept” of individual freedom anymore. That’s yesterday’s news. You don’t do as they say and you are forced out of business and maybe out of life. They’ve got the act of intimidation and coercion down so well that “the people” see it as thoughtfulness and goodwill.
Overall, these “bakers” are quite silly and ignorant. The *system* has taught them to want more pay for less work and numerous *perks* from the government. When the system collapses...will they be surprised?
Out of the 18,000 workers who will lose their jobs, I wonder if Reuters thought about interviewing a dozen who hate losing their jobs and would have voted for the new contract. It’s all in the presentation.
Boycott Union made.
Let's see 18500 employees, 300 labor contracts to manage. That's insane. The overhead to manage that alone would force many companies out of business. The HR function must of been a revolving door.
...or $16,640/year.
By my top-of-my-head calculation, Teamsters Twinkie Truck drivers were making about $130K, but even at $35k, it sounds like he'd need to cut back a little on his beer budget. I wouldn't say that these people are exactly "retarded" -- but when did public schools stop teaching about arithmetic???
Right. It’s down to a little over 15 months down from a little over 23 months.
To get another job without qualifying for welfare and food stamps it will take over a year for most in this economy.
Take that welfare subsidized job you’ll most likely be there more than a year.
In the end you’ll probably save the tax payers the most money by waiting for a decent job.
Are Union thugs retarded?
That is a redundant question.
I think it is required.
Don’t forget who was an equity owner in Hostess..........
Mr. Richard (Dick) Gebhardt. This was a planned win/win for both sides. Typical strategy, appear to be at odds to gain the trust of the unwashed sheep, then fleece em.Our beloved government does it each and every day. We have the appearance of duality but all those bastards are in the cloak rooms in solidarity, laughing their asses off at us and how we stupidly fall for it time and again. I’ll never hold my nose again and vote for another moderate like McCain, Crist, Romney. I won’t be fooled again. Not voting make take it over the cliff but it looks like we are going that way anyway so at least I can keep my self respect.
Close. I'll grant you that.
But this utterance (and I've heard it!) takes the cake:
"I voted for Obama. Twice!"
Absolutely Brilliant!
“He said he earned roughly $35,000 with overtime last year, down from about $45,000 five years ago.”
Who was president 5 years ago? Who is responsible for the
hardships at Hostess? Unions wanted Obama and now they are
too ckicken$h1T to admit who’s really responsible for this
disaster. Sorry to say but the unions have to go.
“He said he earned roughly $35,000 with overtime last year, down from about $45,000 five years ago.”
Who was president 5 years ago? Who is responsible for the
hardships at Hostess? Unions wanted Obama and now they are
too ckicken$h1T to admit who’s really responsible for this
disaster. Sorry to say but the unions have to go.
This company probably had many other operational concerns/problems but the following is a tough one.
snip
With 18,500 workers, Hostess has 12 different unions including the BCTGM, which has about 5,600 members on the bread and snack item production lines, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 7,500 route sales representatives, drivers and other employees.
Unlike some non-unionized rivals, the maker of Wonder Bread and Drake’s cakes had to navigate more than 300 labor contracts, with terms that often strained efficiency and competitiveness, Hostess officials have said. In some extreme cases, contract provisions required different products to be delivered on different trucks even when headed to the same place.
end snip
I wonder how many of the dozen workers interviewed were union paid Judas goats leading the union member sheep to slaughter. They put a smiley face on unemployment to hide the disaster the union has led its people into. I believe this is similar to Eastern Airline where the union destroyed a company as a warning to other airlines and the employees be damned.
Since unions wish to share in operational decisions, there should be a law mandating they share in the fudiciary losses such that no union employee be qualified for unemployment when they force the company into bankruptcy or liquidation.
In my line of work that's known as a "clue." You have a product line that fewer and fewer people want. You exist in a body conscious society obsessed with health and fitness. You sell a product perceived by that society's leadership and its Wookie First Spouse, as the root cause of high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, and no better than a carton of cigarettes. Your days were numbered the minute they went after the tobacco companies.
The Winner! The alternative to allowing companies to go out of business is to prop them up at the taxpayers expense, which makes everyone poorer.
Over time, everyone is poor except for a few political elite who live off of everyone else.
That’s disgusting at face value. In my life, I would take a pay cut and economize as opposed to seeing fellow employees laid off, and I would have the resources to take it too; it’s pretty sad when plenty of people in unions, much less general workers, can’t bother with making such sacrifices as I would be willing to make.
Property and Plunder
Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property.
But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder.
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain — and since labor is pain in itself — it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.
When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.
It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.
But, generally, the law is made by one man or one class of men. And since law cannot operate without the sanction and support of a dominating force, this force must be entrusted to those who make the laws.
This fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. Thus it is easy to understand how law, instead of checking injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice. It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.
The Law - Bastiat
More...
“But when the law, by means of its necessary agent, force, imposes upon men a regulation of labor, a method or a subject of education, a religious faith or creed — then the law is no longer negative; it acts positively upon people. It substitutes the will of the legislator for their own wills; the initiative of the legislator for their own initiatives. When this happens, the people no longer need to discuss, to compare, to plan ahead; the law does all this for them. Intelligence becomes a useless prop for the people; they cease to be men; they lose their personality, their liberty, their property.”
http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html#SECTION_G025
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