<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="3">According to what I read (& linked to), those pay raises were </font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">rescinded</font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="3"> and the exec's were paid $1/year.</font><br><br><hr id="zwchr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: initial;"><b>From: </b>"arxaaron" <arxaaron@gmail.com><br><b>To: </b>"Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale@ale.org><br><b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, November 21, 2012 10:47:48 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [ale] Way OT - the death of Twinkies<br><br>Sorry, can't let this typically ignorant of the facts, (R)==RAPIST, <br>self suicidal,<br> "blame the workers", teabagger terrorist propaganda go unchallenged.<br><br>The failures behind the bankruptcy of the Hostess corporation are at<br>least equally the fault of corporapist executive incompetence, <br>exploitation,<br>and gluttonous greed as they are of the unions trying to maintain living<br>wages and equitable working conditions for the people who were actually<br>making and delivering the products:<br><br>"BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to<br>file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was <br>awarded<br>a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at<br>least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay <br>raises.<br>One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000<br>and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256."<br><br><http://gawker.com/5961444/dont-worry-hostess-top-executives-still-got-richer-as-company-collapsed <br> ><br><br>Until our economic structures are shifted to a democratic, bottom up<br>paradigm where our models of corporation and business are employee<br>owned and controlled, then we (and the dying planet) are all doomed<br>to suffer the continued and guaranteed failure of the grossly <br>inefficient<br>and even more grossly inequitable adversarial structures of industrial<br>capitalism.<br><br>Truly tragic that most human beings are so deluded and entrapped by<br>hysterical and pervasive corporapist propaganda that they are unable<br>to realize that fact.<br><br>in peace<br>aaron<br><br><br><br><br>On 2012/11/20, at 11:24 , Scott Plante wrote:<br><br>> I found that very surprising, so I did a bit of googling. I think <br>> that must have been meant as a bit of hyperbole. They were asked to <br>> take an 8% cut, of which they'd get 4% back next year, and to start <br>> paying 17% of their healthcare instead of their current 0%. Here are <br>> a few more surprising facts I came across:<br>><br>> --Hostess paid out almost $100 million in health benefits for <br>> retirees last year, but over half of it covered workers who never <br>> had worked at Hostess. The Teamsters’ onerous and antiquated “multi- <br>> employer pension plan” foists the pension obligations of a bankrupt <br>> company on to the balance sheets of surviving rivals—ensuring a <br>> steady death spiral in any declining industry. A similar “MEPP” <br>> almost killed YRC, one of the largest trucking companies.<br>><br>> --Union rules forced Hostess to run separate truck fleets for <br>> delivering bread vs. sweets. A sweets driver, serving a 7-11 store, <br>> was forbidden from restocking shelves with breads already delivered <br>> and waiting in the back—he had to call for a bread driver to swing <br>> by and handle.<br>><br>> --The union restrictions on the 5,500 distribution routes at Hostess <br>> made it unprofitable to serve tiny outlets, yet Hostess was barred <br>> from using smaller, sleeker—and non-union—distributors.<br>><br>> --Workers were asked to take an 8% pay cut and pay 17% of their <br>> health-care costs instead of zero. Welcome to the club, guys. For <br>> this, they would have received 25% ownership of Hostess plus $100 <br>> million of Hostess debt to be paid back to the unions.<br>><br>> From: http://goo.gl/BR9uX<br>><br>> Apparently, the best you can do with unemployment is 46.9% of your <br>> pay, and it goes as low as 20.6%.<br>> http://goo.gl/WA5T6<br>><br>> By the way, the judge has ordered them back into mediation today. <br>> Perhaps they'll stay open yet.<br>><br>> From: "Jim Kinney" <jim.kinney@gmail.com><br>> To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale@ale.org><br>> Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2012 9:27:43 AM<br>> Subject: Re: [ale] Way OT - the death of Twinkies<br>><br>> Ouch! To make more on unemployment than at the new pay rate. OUCH! <br>> No wonder they walked out.<br>><br>> On Nov 17, 2012 9:21 AM, "Lightner, Jeff" <JLightner@water.com> wrote:<br>> My first thought on hearing about this the other day was of the <br>> movie Zombieland in which Woody Harrelson's character's main driving <br>> force is the search for the "last twinkies". A funny bit was when <br>> his traveling companion blasts through a door with a shotgun only to <br>> find the only box of twinkies on the other side of it blasted as <br>> well. :-)<br>><br>> Twinkies won't go away - in the company's statement they made the <br>> comment that the brands would likely be sold.<br>><br>> Interestingly their main union had actually signed a contract and it <br>> was a lesser union that went on strike. A co-worker of mine said <br>> that he had heard or read that other union did it because they <br>> decided they'd make more money on unemployment than with the new <br>> contract with all the concessions it had.<br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Ale mailing list<br>> Ale@ale.org<br>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale<br>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo<br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale<br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo<br></div><br></div></body></html>