Thread: Twinkies

Originally Posted by Crotalus

Another recent thread blamed textile deaths in the recent fire on the absence of Unions.

Does anyone believe that the death of Hostess and the 18,000 jobs lost was the result of anything but Union greed?

The way I understood the issue: sales of twinkies have been in so much decline that the company was not profitable anymore. Management wanted the rest of the employees to take a drastic paycut

For many employees, taking a big paycut is not an option because they're already having problems keeping afloat.
Add to that that management didn't want to share the paycuts.
Add to that that management didn't even have a plan to make things better. So this was probably not going to be the last paycut either.

How is this exactly union greed?
The world doesn't really want twinkies anymore. Not as much as in the past.

The employees had to decide whether they wanted to keep management cushy while dying the death of a thousand paycuts. they decided management would go down with them.

Originally Posted by Crotalus

going to close.

Did you hear about non-union rescue workers from Alabama not being allowed to do any cleanup work in New Jersey?

Let's be gentlemen here.

Never happened, it was a bunch of crap. I would personally like to thank each and every worker who was sent to NJ from other States to help us through Sandy. They were away from their families in deplorable conditions working long hard hours in dangerous conditions. If any of you read this....THANK YOU!!!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Since I know NJ is a "right to work" state I would be from Missouri on that allegation. A buddy of mine drove for Wonderbread for quite a few years up in Jersey. For one thing the teamsters agreed to the contract ....... cuts.... the whole ball of wax. It was the bakers union who balked at more cuts. They had already given up quite a bit in previous years ...... as did the teamsters in years past.

I don't know all of the gory details but I'm reasonably sure there is enough blame to go around ...... unless a person is just anti union like those at the battle of the overpass. In that case the union is always at fault and management has the milk of human kindness running through

Teamsters were OK with the contract, the bakers were not. Can't say what I would have done.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I don't know what union you belonged to. The International Brotherhood Of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Ironworkers is one I am proud to have been a member of for 20 years of my life. It wasn't always easy and sometimes I didn't think it was fair but overall I am very grateful to have been associated with them.

Unions were caused by the abuse of the worker by the employer not the other way around. I've been in a union of 30 years and am glad to have been.

I always look for the balance in life, some don't.

Trying to keep my lip buttoned here. Most who are against Union representation are more than likely a white collar manager of a Company that has a organized workforce or just don't know squat about Union representation.

I ask all who are against organized labor to look up the term "Morganism". This situation with Hostess is just another case of Morganism, makes you think JP Morgan is doing it again & he's been dead for almost a hundred years.

Originally Posted by Crotalus

Another recent thread blamed textile deaths in the recent fire on the absence of Unions.

Does anyone believe that the death of Hostess and the 18,000 jobs lost was the result of anything but Union greed?

The death of the textile workers is mostly, if not the sole, fault of the employer who allowed substandard work conditions. The absence of unions only made it that much easier for them, the employer, to operate like that. The point is that had there been union involvement it just might have lead to better working conditions that would have at least allowed more workers to survive the fire. When was the last time some employer locked you in your workplace for the duration of your shift? Locked/blocked exits are a standard no no here by fire code usually. It is just accepted common sense.

Bob

Whatever happened to a "Honest Wage for an Honest Days Work"? or "Pay a Man/Woman what they are Worth" or "I'll give you a Chicken for a Box of Twinkies"...

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

What about management greed in the form of giving themselves bonuses whilst declaring bankruptcy?

That appears to be SOP these days in companies. At least they waited to give bonuses to management until after they had secured concessions from the employees, in the company that used to work for, that was in bankruptcy protection. It always makes sense to reward the same people who managed a company into bankruptcy with bonuses. That is like praising a bus driver for not killing everyone in the bus he was driving when his incompetence caused him to go over a cliff.

Bob

I was in the UAW for Ford here in Norfolk (Notice i said WAS!) for 12 years. The day i got my first pay check i know i was 1, getting payed to much for the job i did 2, didn't see a way to move up becuase the old guys NEVER left (they didn't have to) and 3, know it was not going to last.
Then one week later I got a job with the ILA (Longshoreman) and there again 1, 2, and 3, same thing. After Three years, no job. Now i know that Va is right-to-work so the unions are here only because the state doesnt want to hear it, but still if this unions (Two among the largest in the world) have to tell the people that the plant is closing and that they dont have a job, then it should not take alot to see that managment is also losing, beside my brothers its not the union that closes a plant or managment its the company that owens it.It's stock holders that scream for profits. I lost both of those jobs as a direct result of economic down turn and i'm not mad its BUSINESS not personal.
I could have moved to Michigan to work for Ford but my wifes family is here, the kids are in school here and I HATE SNOW!!!!!!!!!
Rich

I worked for a crane rental company a number of years. I was a truck driver and therefore not union. The operators and oilers were union. When things got really busy for the operators, ofttimes they would send a qualified driver out as an operator. Funny part was when the union MADE them pay us "scale" rather than our normal hourly rate. Several times that cost me money as I would have been on OT at driver pay. Didn't make much difference to me as I enjoyed operating on an occasional basis.

We had a few super dedicated union operators that were want to bitch every time we showed up with truck load of their crane. One HOT afternoon, one of the operators told us drivers that helping build the crane that he was going to "file" on every damn one of us sorry, non-union, scab sobs because we were doing "union" work on a union job and we taking money from the union guys.

I was knocking pins into the boom with a 16lb hammer when he started that rant. He had his fat ass up on the boom and was yelling down at us. I handed the hammer handle up to him and he took it with a funny look on his face and asked me "WTF?"

I told him the A/C was really cold in my truck and to let me know when he got it unloaded. The other two drivers followed suit and we left that over fed a-hole standing in the sun begging us to come back and finish building the crane.

WE sat in our trucks and enjoyed being on the clock under the A/C while he whined to dispatch. Dispatch called me on the company radio so the operator could hear it too and told us that we were NOT to help build that crane under any circumstances. Mr Super Operator got swing that hammer the rest of the day while we watched TV in our trucks.

If he'd kept his mouth shut, we'd have had that rig hammered together in a few hours and he could have been boomin' and swingin' before dark without breaking a sweat.

When it came time to move the crane, he was REAL nice to us drivers. He'd brought donuts and junk out to the rig. We laughed and joked and ate his donuts and when the time came to start knocking it out, we thanked him for the donuts and told him we'd best sit on the sidelines and the let the union boys work. We sat on our trailers until the loads were ready.

Wullie

Yea, there are enough mallet heads on both sides of the fence to make anybodies day. There is a time and a place to exercise company or union muscle, too bad the mallet heads don't know when that is. I think that crane operator has a clue about when that is now. Gotta love it.

Bob

Originally Posted by Mvcrash

Never happened, it was a bunch of crap. I would personally like to thank each and every worker who was sent to NJ from other States to help us through Sandy. They were away from their families in deplorable conditions working long hard hours in dangerous conditions. If any of you read this....THANK YOU!!!

Why do people question me this bluntly? Never happened?

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