Twinky Truth

I have been in a union in the past, and in times like this, you bet it is better to keep the doors open. By the way, the purpose of a union is not to protect no load workers. The guiding principle is a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. Unions are there to ensure a safe working environment, and a tool to counter abusive managers. There were many times as a steward I told someone they had no case, usually related to calling in sick or late constantly. We could usually get the punishment reduced the first time. However, the message was the same. If you do not change your work habits, you will be out the door soon.

 

I was in the International Elevators Union. It also was a good one. Liberals for some reason believe there are piles of money sitting around waiting to be taken from the rich to create more spending for them. It is absolutely insane.

 

This thinking is the problem. It is the mentality that any given employer owes its employees any set kind of wage. Wages are determined by what the market (ie people who will purchase goods or services) are willing to pay for those goods or services. Neither the employee nor the employer can force the value of the goods or services on the market (people who will buy them) at the price needed to prove a "living wage". It just cannot happen. The market does not work that way. Hostess is living proof of that. If the job you have does not pay enough then go somewhere else. No one owes anyone any set wage.

 

I like living in a right-to-work state. And I like not having to pay State income tax. Not only that, the weather's better and the people are friendlier.

I don't care that corporations keep a bigger share of the wealth.

 

Exactly. Exactly. Henry Ford was able to be so successful (without a union) because he paid good wages for the time. Steel mills, however, unionized because the work conditions were deplorable and the wages so low. (Learned from below....)

Brushed up on history by watching the History Channel series The Men Who Built America. It was VERY educational as well as entertaining.

 

The history channel just played a thing on Lincoln. Said he was gay.

 

Twinkies are pretty popular, as are some of the other products Hostess foods sold. I'm betting that some company will buy out the recipe, and the brand name, and it won't be long before twinkies are back on the shelf of your local convenience store.

 

Then again, it could well be a food production company that understands paying their employees well and providing reasonable benefits develops a quality product that increases their sales, and can be sustained with reasonable profit margins.

 

Yes, people all over the world had noticed that the quality of twinkies had fallen below their usual standards and were no longer edible.

 

Everyone blames just the union, but there's also another side to it:

http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http:...-to-hostess-facility-closings&h=XAQGvbW0v&s=1

The company was mismanaged, and the workers had suffered cuts for years, while the CEO's jack up their income insanely. People call this “covetousness”, “class envy”, and say the “market” determines who makes what, but how could that be so if the company, and evet the industry, was in trouble for years? This is what is always missed.

 

"Mismanagement" lies in the eye of the beholder. I would say that both sides mismanaged this situation.

At any rate it's Hostess's choice. The Union has nothing to cry about- they gambled and lost.

 

If the industry is in trouble then it means the market for the product is diminishing. That is not mismanagement that is a change in the market. It is like the Post Office. The market changed and it is no longer viable.

When markets change and consumers are no longer purchasing goods and services as they once were then the employees cannot keep insisting on more benefits. The first thing unions look to whine about is the salaries if the executives. Unless of course we begin talking about the salaries of administrators in our education system then all of the sudden mums the word.

I do not buy the complaints about executives salaries. Its an excuse. liberals are like kids who cannot understand why there is never enough money around to satisfy them. Its just piled up in the back room and no one will let them at it.

 

I kind of like that illustration Rev!

 

That sounds simple enough, but we forget what everyone's so mad at Obama over:
no jobs.

So yes, they may have cut their nose off to spite their face, and I believe that what these unions (including my own) do is very unwise in these situations, but it's not as clear cut a choice as that's made out to seem.

No, management is like kids unleashed in the back room, and when they've consumed as much as they can (in addition to the toy market being weak as it is, to continue the analogy) and still want more, and then go after the weaker. (And then at the same time ironically have everyone believing the weaker are the ones who are getting it all, simply because they complain!) So they always get a pass, no matter what, it seems. (“Survival of the fittest”?)

Truth is, this is another company that engaged in a series of megamergers, but then bit off more than they could chew, and then bust (while the CEO's were probably rewarding themselves before it became clear that the combined company would be profitable).

Technically, the company isn't (originally) even Hostess, it's archrival Dolly Madison (IBC), who bought out Hostess/Wonder (CBC), and northeast archrival Drake’s, and had earlier bought out the huge southern rival Merita/Mickey (ABC) and a bunch of other bread labels across the country. They had created a virtual monopoly, except for Little Debbie and El Grupo Bimbo becoming bigger over the years. (As a snack cake buff, I've followed these companies for decades. From when I went to college down south, and found they didn't have Drake's, which were my favorite).

I thought all those companies under one umbrella was interesting, but I've seen a lot of times, when companies do that, they overdo it, get cocky with finances, and can't handle the resultant behemoth, and then burst at the seams.
Everyone complains about "big government", but big corporations are just a different class of organization the same kinds of people climb up through, and aim to control as much of the world as possible through; just through different means.

As for the claim of mismanagement (poor decisions):

 

http://www.redstate.com/2012/11/17/...ion-boss-admits-union-knew-hostess-would-die/