Bye bye Twinkies and Ding Dongs

jrm30655 wrote:Hostess: Union Rules were Harder to Digest than Twinkies
Courtesy of Dr. Paul Price

Did union workers simply get their 'Just Desserts' for backing Hostess into a corner with too many unreasonable demands? Consider the evidence.

Union workers have now completed their mission. 18,500 jobs are gone forever.

The national labor bosses stood firm. Labor leaders are proud they stood up to those nasty ‘suits’ [see Entourage for definition] who refused to run a money-losing business simply to continue paying salaries and benefits.

Hostess posted a $341 million loss in 2011 on revenues of about $2.5 billion. Contributing to those 2011 losses:

•$52 million in Workers’ Comp Claims
•Dealing with 372 Distinct Collective-Bargaining Contracts
•Administration of 80 Separate Health and Benefits Plans
•Funding and Tending to 40 Discrete Pension Plans
•$31 million in year-over-year increases in wages and health care benefits for 2012 v. 2011
Uncounted in the above numbers were the outrageous union-imposed rules that made for a too-high-to-bear cost of sales:

•No truck could carry both bread and snacks even when going to the same location
•Drivers were not permitted to load their own trucks
•Workers who loaded bread were not allowed to also load snacks
•Bringing products from back rooms to shelves required another set of union employees
•Multi-Employer pension obligations made Hostess liable for other, previously bankrupted, retirement plan contributions from employees that never worked for Hostess at all
America has come to this. The only defense against insane union demands is the willingness to walk away and close shop.

With General Motors and Chrysler we found that even that remedy wouldn’t work.

jrm30655 wrote:
I read an article where one of the guys was complaining that an 8% cut would cost him $200 a week. That means that he was making over $100,000 per year. This is not nuclear science, it is baking bread and treats.

mattoleriver wrote:

jrm30655 wrote:
I read an article where one of the guys was complaining that an 8% cut would cost him $200 a week. That means that he was making over $100,000 per year. This is not nuclear science, it is baking bread and treats.

So what is it about a management team that can neither manage a company nor bake a Twinkie that makes it worth so damned much? All of those union contracts were agreed to by management---inept, corrupt and greedy management. The bakers earned their money; the managers ruined the company. If you're looking to place blame place it where it belongs.

George

jrm30655 wrote:<By the way some of the info is wrong as the Teamsters did settle and were urging other
unions to compromise so it was not quite the bad union thing this person wrote. I don't
know what other bad info was included but when I see one bad data I look for another..>

There was nothing in the article that said that the teamsters didn't settle.

However, the teamsters work rules were horrible. Plus there was something like 60 different contracts in the US with the Teamsters and the bakers unions.

The Bakers Union was the one that refused to budge and caused the final shutdown.

I read an article where one of the guys was complaining that an 8% cut would cost him $200 a week. That means that he was making over $100,000 per year. This is not nuclear science, it is baking bread and treats.

I actually know a nuclear scientist and he makes about $100K a year. I have a daughter with 3 degrees and is a forensic scientist and she makes 50% of that.

As I'm typing, I'm waiting on dough to rise because I'm making rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. If I can make rolls, probably anyone can..