Oh NO!

[Bawanna]

What chaffes my backside is I hired into a union shop. I don't have a choice. If I want to work there I have to join the union. I have to pay some suit and tie to play bones supposedly in my behalf that probably makes 4 times the money I make.

In that same warehouse job I was even the shop steward. The owner of the company thru an intermediary said we needed a shop steward, we'd never had one and our union rep said he was our steward.
The owner specifically said he wanted me to be the steward. So since I thunk it up and the others were just slackers they voted me in much against the union reps wishes since he didn't want us to have one.

Once I was in, the owner was so relieved. He said he couldn't talk to us during contracts and such except to a steward. He went on to tell me all the truths and pointed out all the lies that the rep had told us.

They wanted to bring in accountants and look at the company books. I sided with the owner. It's his company and it ain't none of the unions business to be digging thru his books.

I've always done way better in non union jobs. Work and you shall receive.

[muggsy]

Hostess has been flirting with bankruptcy for the last decade, can't blame on Obama. Also, what kind of cuts were management planning to take. Probably none...

I don't much care for unions, but I try not to judge them till you know the whole story. Maybe they have been taking cuts for years now.. Don't know. I remember the year my company gave us across the board 10% pay cut because economic times were bad. Then we found out everyone manager level and above got a 20% bonus. I'm not talking CEO's, I'm talking rank and file managers which accounts for about 30% of the employee's. Basically they turned us upside down and shook out our pockets..

Obamacare was the straw that broke Hostess's back. Hostess asked the employees to take a cut so that they could afford to pay for the employees healthcare. Hostess wasn't in business to take a loss. That's what happens when you work on a thin profit margin. Hostess is only the first to go out of business. Thanks to government over regulation there will be many others. It's getting harder to find a doctor in private practice. They are all going to work for hospitals, because even doctors can no longer afford to hire a staff. That's what happens when the government takes over a business.

[CrabbyAzz]

Obamacare was the straw that broke Hostess's back. Hostess asked the employees to take a cut so that they could afford to pay for the employees healthcare. Hostess wasn't in business to take a loss. That's what happens when you work on a thin profit margin. Hostess is only the first to go out of business. Thanks to government over regulation there will be many others. It's getting harder to find a doctor in private practice. They are all going to work for hospitals, because even doctors can no longer afford to hire a staff. That's what happens when the government takes over a business.

In the business world it's survival of the fittest. Obviously the company is not managed well. Someone will buy them out and we will continue to enjoy our twinkies.

[jocko]

sorry

I feel for the working man. He screwed by the employer if there isn't a union and screwed by the union if he votes one in. I was treated much better in nonunion shops, but only because the threat of a union hung over them. I guess a man just does what he can. Sometimes to have to go along to get along.

muggsy I don't buy into that statement today... Its always the threat of a union shop that makes a non union business great. Pure B.S. IMO,

no offense to that either. justmy opinion.

[Longitude Zero]

Someone will buy them out and we will continue to enjoy our twinkies.

I doubt that and will be waiting to see if it occurs or not but I won't be holding my breath.

[TucsonMTB]

Guys, you can make the Union the boogie man if you want to. But, I ain't buying it. Here is an excerpt from a recent Forbes article. Like many things in life, it is not as simple as you think. http://www.forbes.com/sites/helaineo...-and-twinkies/

---- Begin - Time for a reality check. ----

Hostess has been sold at least three times since the 1980s, racking up debt and shedding profitable assets along the way with each successive merger. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and again in 2011. Little thought was given to the line of products, which, frankly, began to seem a bit dated in the age of the gourmet cupcake. (100 calorie Twinkie Bites? When was the last time you entered Magnolia Bakery and asked about the calorie count?)


As if all this were not enough, Hostess Brands’ management gave themselves several raises, all the while complaining that the workers who actually produced the products that made the firm what money it did earn were grossly overpaid relative to the company’s increasingly dismal financial position.

---- End - Time for a reality check. ----

Oh, and to make this gun related . . . We don't eat Twinkies and they make very poor targets. Penetration is good but nothing seems to expand. This may be a function of the soft filling.

[jocko]

probably

I doubt that and will be waiting to see if it occurs or not but I won't be holding my breath.

will be peace mealed out to alot of bakeries.. Wonder bread was their bread and butter product, it will certainly be bought up in name only. I would not look for anutter bread maker to buy their property etc That might add sme jobs back to, maybe not. If that business that buys um is union it will stay that way, ifit isn't u can bet it won't go union either, and more than likely they will start with a clean sheet to as far as emplopyee hiring goes. NOt sure I would want to hire any union people that just was part of a companies closing either.

It won't work out good for 80% of the employees, The twinkie name willbe bought by some maker. Its just a name like wonder bread. Not rocket scince tomake it or the other products they make either

I think more busines will follow Hostess in time . I read where Papa"s john day that they were to be boycotted due to their announcement, had their biggerst business day ever. Boyclott is just a word, nuttin more any more. Unions are the worst IMO. they picket the wal marts, targets, kmarts stores while they are being built but are the first through the fokkig doors when they open to buy the bargains. We could have killed the foreign car market years ago, buy just being loyal to american products. They came over here with at the time a better car put um on their lots for sale and so so many lined up to buy um. I don't blame the foregn car makers, we could have cut them off at the pass with virtually no government intervention what so ever. JUST DON'T BUY THE FOKKING PRODUCT... I do feel today that the american car is as good as most any foreighn maker but it is very hard to win um back once u loose them..

[CrabbyAzz]

Well said Tucson. You can't knee jerk react to headlines. When you look a little deeper the truth will be exposed.

[Longitude Zero]

I do feel today that the american car is as good as most any foreighn maker but it is very hard to win um back once u loose them..

Today this statement is pretty much corrrect. However for the previous 30+ years it is absolutely WRONG as the American auto industry built mostly bull shat. Facts are facts. There are foreign car builders that build vehicles FAR BETTER than you will ever see in the USA. ie. Rolls Royce, Aston Martin etc. They are however costly high end vehicles.

[jocko]

I think aston Martin closed their door to. course as u know the cars u mentioned are in a whole different classification to. Not sur ehow many Aston Martins one sees running around with over a 100K miles on it either, like u do on most other standard grade foreign cars..

Neither the Aston or Rolls could withstand a high production factory, as their sales are so low that it would not be cost efficient, even if the quality was the same. but ur right, we in the past really put out some sh!t cars here in america. We oppened the door for the foreign cars. VW started it all if one can remember back that far..

[OldLincoln]

Well, whoever's "fault" it was, look for the brand and recipes to be sold and a new bakery company in China to produce them. You can say corporate greed, cost of materials, manufacturing, transportation, or whatever but it is still reality and today's example of why America is loosing the economic battle. Do you know that China will become the NUMBER ONE economy within 2 years? The USA has held that title for a very long time but will not likely ever hold it again.

As a patriot that really hurts me. We talk about it all the time but this makes it real. And remember, China doesn't pay it's workers much or many benefits, but the USA sure buys a lot of stuff from them and is responsible for pushing them ahead of us.

If it's wrong here and people cry out what about the workers, why do they then walk into Walmart and load up on merchandise made by workers a whole lot worse off than the poor workers in the USA? It's like the environment. Gotta save the weeds and bugs here so lets force our industry to some country that destroys everything in it's way - like burning down the rain forest.

We simply cannot survive if we never learn to compromise to produce while protecting the environment what we can, certainly better than real third world countries. And when "treaties" come along protecting everything or taking away guns, see if China is signed up. They don't sign anything that may restrict them so the UN calls them a "developing country". My friend, they are quite well developed in case you haven't noticed.

[CrabbyAzz]

Well it's now a global economy. Jack Welch (ex CEO of GM) recently said his ideal factory would be on a barge so he could keep sailing it to the countries with the cheapest labor rates.

By the way, if not China it would be another undeveloped country. Our country once had the lowest paid workers and a great deal of natural resources. That's how we became great. A great show on the history channel is "the men who made America". Not a nice time for common laborers. Basically a Koch brothers fantasy.

[GROTMAN]

[yqtszhj]

Well it's now a global economy. Jack Welch (ex CEO of GM) recently said his ideal factory would be on a barge so he could keep sailing it to the countries with the cheapest labor rates.

By the way, if not China it would be another undeveloped country. Our country once had the lowest paid workers and a great deal of natural resources. That's how we became great. A great show on the history channel is "the men who made America". Not a nice time for common laborers. Basically a Koch brothers fantasy.

Well, I kinda have to agree with Crabby on this. In particular the global economy. Trade agreements made sure of that. It was Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, and now China, Haiti, Indonesia, Philippines, India, etc...,

I still believe that if all Americans got up every morning, AND busted their butt to make a living for their self and make the country better, AND stood up for what was right, we would do all right. Unfortunately I think we are heading toward the Spain, Greece, or Mexico route due to a lot of bad decisions, people have had it easy, and we have raised more than a few kids with an entitlement attitude in the last 30 years.

I agree with Jocko and Bawanna that I can do better when my life depends on my performance and not a Union contract. Then my employment is based on my performance and not my seniority. The last couple of years Far exceeds and Role Model have kept me on top of the keeper list instead of the gotta let um go list.

I did really like that "Men who made America" series. Those guy's did make America great and in the end the workers and people in the country ended up better off due to the efforts of all involved. I have hope that one day we can do that again some how.

[eklipto101]

Washington and Colorado pass the ligalization of marijuana and now "NO MORE TWINKIES"...That's some bad junk.