See my post #82, it is not even assembly line type production where you have workers doing any sort of hands on work – it’s all automated save for someone at the beginning operating and pouring pre-measured amounts into a big automated mixing vat and someone at the end taking the boxes and putting them onto pallets or loading them onto trucks.
Comparing someone working at a Hostess factory or a similar operation a “pastry chef” is like calling those frozen Lean Cuisine dinners – “cuisine”.
I completely agree with your points about assembly-line work — especially automated processes (although some of the individual workers may actually be quite skilled). I just thought that muir_redwoods made too general a remark about the skills required to be a baker. Perhaps I misunderstood him & he was only referring to assembly-line, or automated process work. Yes, a pastry chef is to a union “professional baker”, as cuisine is to Lean Cuisine.